DeSantiago v. Laborers Intern Union of North America, Local No. 1140

• Decision Date: 10 September 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-1911,89-1911
• Citation: 914 F.2d 125
• Parties: 135 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2419, 116 Lab.Cas. P 10,287 Savino DeSANTIAGO and Larry Colton, Appellants, v. LABORERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL NO. 1140, a Labor Organization, Appellee, Jack DEVAULT, Appellant, v. LABORERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL NO. 1140, a Labor Organization, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 125

914 F.2d 125

135 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2419, 116 Lab.Cas. P 10,287

Savino DeSANTIAGO and Larry Colton, Appellants, v. LABORERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL NO.

1140, a Labor Organization, Appellee,

Jack DEVAULT, Appellant, v. LABORERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL NO.

1140, a Labor Organization, Appellee.

No. 89-1911.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted May 17, 1990.

Decided Sept. 10, 1990.

Lyle A. Rodenburg, Council Bluffs, Iowa, for appellants.

Dennis M. McElwain, Sioux City, Iowa, for appellee.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

The questions raised in this appeal are (1) whether this lawsuit brought by Savino DeSantiago, Larry Colton and Jack Devault against their local union, Laborers International Union of North America, Local 1140 ("Local"), was properly removed to federal court, and if so, (2) whether the district court ¹ erred in holding that DeSantiago and Colton's complaint was preempted by a prior National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") ruling, and that Devault's complaint was barred by his failure to bring suit within the six-month statute of limitations period of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), see 29 U.S.C. Sec. 160(b) (1988).

I.

This dispute arose out of the Local's closing of its hiring hall in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where the plaintiffs were members, and the plaintiffs' later difficulty in finding and retaining work through the Local's hiring hall in Omaha, Nebraska, across the river from Council Bluffs. DeSantiago and Colton, along with other Council Bluffs members, submitted a petition to the Local's parent international union protesting the closure of the Council Bluffs facility. According to DeSantiago and Colton, the Local discriminated against them in its job referral system because of their support of this petition. They contend that during their second day on an Omaha job site, the contractor fired them and replaced them with members of the Omaha hiring hall at the Local's request, and that subsequently the Local "blacklisted" them from obtaining employment and failed to place their names on out-of-work lists. Devault's claim is that the Local ignored his complaints of unsafe working conditions at an asbestos removal site and later failed adequately to represent him when his employer discharged him allegedly in retaliation for reporting safety violations to state officials.

After DeSantiago and Colton filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, the NLRB regional director issued a formal complaint against the Local. This complaint charged that the Local had engaged in unfair labor practices under section 8(b)(1)(A) of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(b)(1)(A) (1988), by restraining and coercing DeSantiago and Colton in the exercise of their rights guaranteed under section 7 of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 157 (1988). It was also alleged that the Local engaged in unfair labor practices under section 8(b)(2) of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(b)(2) (1988), by causing employers to discriminate against them in violation of section 8(a)(3) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(a)(3) (1988). The complaint stated that these violations occurred as a result of the Local's (1) failure to register and refer DeSantiago and Colton for employment, (2) refusal to enforce provisions of collective bargaining agreements by failing to make job site visits; and (3) conduct in bringing about their dismissal from the Omaha job site discussed previously. The complaint was later amended, but the general allegations--that the Local was responsible for DeSantiago and Colton's dismissal from the Omaha job site and that it refused to refer DeSantiago and Colton for employment--remained the same.

After conducting a hearing with numerous witnesses, the administrative law judge (ALJ) found that the Local had engaged in unfair labor practices and ordered it to cease and desist from discriminating against DeSantiago and Colton in its job referral system, and to compensate them for any loss of earnings resulting from their discharge from the Omaha job site. The Local appealed this ruling to the Board, but later abandoned its appeal and complied with the ALJ's order.

While the NLRB proceeding was pending, DeSantiago and Colton brought suit in an Iowa state court, contending that the Local had (1) intentionally interfered with their employment contract with the Omaha employer, (2) violated their rights under state "right to work" and "anti-blacklisting" laws, and (3) violated their rights to fair treatment and representation guaranteed under the local and international union constitutions. Devault, who had not filed a charge with the NLRB, joined in their complaint by alleging that the Local had infringed his rights to fair treatment and representation under the union constitutions as well.

After the case was removed to federal court pursuant to the federal question statute, see 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1441(b) (1988), the district court granted the Local's motion for dismissal of the complaint, or in the alternative, summary judgment.

II.

On appeal the union members first contend that removal on the basis of federal question jurisdiction was improper. ² Under the well-pleaded complaint rule, a district court has federal question jurisdiction if "a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiffs' properly pleaded complaint." Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 2429, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987). The plaintiffs argue that their complaint properly alleges claims arising under only state law.

There is, however, an independent corollary to the well-pleaded complaint rule which holds that in certain circumstances the preemptive force of a federal statute is so "extraordinary" that it "converts" a complaint alleging only state law claims "into one stating a federal claim for purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule." Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 65, 107 S.Ct. 1542, 1547, 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987). This so-called "complete pre-emption" doctrine, see Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 393, 107 S.Ct. at 2430, has been recognized primarily in labor cases involving state law claims that are preempted by section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185(a) (1988). See, e.g., id. at 393-94, 107 S.Ct. at 2430-31; Avco Corp. v. Aero Lodge No. 735, 390 U.S. 557, 88 S.Ct. 1235, 20 L.Ed.2d 126 (1968).

Section 301(a) provides, in pertinent part, that "[s]uits for violations of contracts between an employer and a labor organization ... or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in the district court of the United States...." 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185(a). This section has been found to preempt state law claims that are "founded directly on rights created by collective-bargaining agreements, and also claims 'substantially dependent on analysis of a collective-bargaining agreement.' " Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 394, 107 S.Ct. at 2431 (quoting International Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. Hechler, 481 U.S. 851, 859 n. 3, 107 S.Ct. 2161, 2166 n. 3, 95 L.Ed.2d 791 (1987)); see also, e.g. United Steelworkers of Am. v. Rawson, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1904, 1909-10, 109 L.Ed.2d 362 (1990).

The plaintiffs argue that their state law claims are not preempted by section 301(a) because those claims are neither based upon nor require any interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement. It is alleged that the sources of these claims instead are local and international union constitutions and state statutes. Assuming but not deciding that none of the plaintiffs' claims is dependent upon analysis of a collective bargaining agreement, ³ we nevertheless conclude that the district court has federal question jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court has recognized that the preemptive force of section 301(a) is applicable not only to state law claims dependent upon analysis of a collective bargaining agreement but also to certain state law claims that are based upon provisions of a union constitution. As mentioned, section 301(a) creates federal court jurisdiction for both cases involving "violations of contracts between an employer and a labor organization," and lawsuits "between any such labor organizations." See 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185(a). This reference to intra-union disputes led the Supreme Court to hold in United Ass'n of Journeymen & Apprentices v. Local 334, 452 U.S. 615, 101 S.Ct. 2546, 69 L.Ed.2d 280 (1981) ("Journeymen ") that section 301(a) provides a basis for federal court jurisdiction when a local union sues its parent international union for violations of the international constitution. In reaching this decision, the Journeymen Court determined that "a union constitution is a 'contract' within the plain meaning of Sec. 301(a)." 452 U.S. at 622, 101 S.Ct. at 2550.

The Journeymen Court explicitly reserved the question whether section 301(a) creates federal court jurisdiction over suits brought by individual union members against their union for breach of the union constitution. See 452 U.S. at 627 n. 16, 101 S.Ct. at 2553. Since the Journeymen decision was rendered, however, at least three courts of appeals have held that federal courts have jurisdiction to hear such suits by virtue of section 301(a). See, e.g., Pruitt v. Carpenters' Local Union No. 225, 893 F.2d 1216, 1218-19 (11th Cir.1990); Lewis v. International Bhd. of Teamsters, Local Union No. 771, 826 F.2d 1310, 1312-14 (3d Cir.1987); Kinney v. International Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 669 F.2d 1222, 1229 (9th Cir.1982). ⁴ And courts have also determined that purported state law claims brought by union members against a local for breach of union constitutions are preempted by section 301(a) and therefore removable to federal court. See, e.g., Pruitt, 893 F.2d at 1219.

We find the reasoning of these cases to be persuasive. Because DeSantiago, Colton and Devault have all alleged claims...