Goulet v. New Penn Motor Exp., Inc.

• Citation: 512 F.3d 34
• Decision Date: 08 January 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-2487.,06-2487.
• Parties: Craig GOULET, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. NEW PENN MOTOR EXPRESS, INC., and Teamsters Local 25, Affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Defendants, Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

512 F.3d 34

Craig GOULET, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. NEW PENN MOTOR EXPRESS, INC., and Teamsters Local 25, Affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Defendants, Appellees.

No. 06-2487.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard March 8, 2007.

Decided January 8, 2008.

Scott A. Lathrop with whom Scott A. Lathrop & Associates was on brief for appellant.

Renee J. Bushey with whom Michael A. Feinberg and Feinberg, Campbell & Zack were on brief for appellee Teamsters Local Union 25.

Carl H. Gluek with whom Jennifer L. Whitney, and Frantz Ward, were on brief for appellee New Penn Motor Express, Inc.

Before BOUDIN, Chief Judge, CAMPBELL, Senior Circuit Judge, and HOWARD, Circuit Judge.

CAMPBELL, Senior Circuit Judge.

Appellant-plaintiff Craig Goulet appeals from the entry of a directed verdict in favor of defendant New Penn Motor Express ("New Penn") and from a jury verdict in favor of defendant Teamsters Local 25 ("Local 25" or "the union") in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on his hybrid claim for breach of a labor agreement by New Penn and breach of the duty of fair representation by the union, in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 185. We affirm the judgments in favor of the defendants.

Facts

APA Transport Company ("APA") was a trucking corporation with several terminals, including two located in Canton and Dracut, Massachusetts. In 1986, APA hired Goulet at its Canton terminal. On March 11, 1987, Goulet was seriously injured. The truck he was loading with a forklift moved away from the loading dock, pulling Goulet and the forklift off the dock. As a result of the accident, Goulet suffered a torn rotator cuff, a herniated disc in his neck, a herniated disc in his lower back, and a torn knee ligament. Upon investigation, APA determined that the accident was caused by Goulet's own negligence. APA then terminated Goulet's employment.

Local 25 represented the drivers and dockworkers at APA's Canton terminal and at the time of his injury, Goulet was a member of Local 25. Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement between Local 25 and APA, Goulet filed a grievance relative to his termination. In accordance with the rules of the grievance committee, no action was taken on the grievance during the time that Goulet pursued and received workers' compensation benefits. From 1987-2000, Goulet collected the maximum of 600 weeks of partial disability workers' compensation benefits. Goulet also applied for and was granted social security disability benefits starting in 1995 and retroactive to 1987. Goulet receives a monthly social security disability benefit of $2,160.

After the exhaustion of his workers' compensation benefits, and more than thirteen years after his termination from APA, Goulet pursued his grievance against APA. On October 16, 2001, the New England Joint Area Grievance Committee ("NEJAGC") issued, in relevant part, the following order:

The panel after hearing the case, motion made, seconded and carried that upon submitting acceptable documentation to the Company of his ability to return to unrestricted duties, the grievant [Goulet] shall serve a ten (10) day suspension. Upon completion of the suspension he shall be reinstated in the seniority list in his original position.

Goulet did not thereafter submit to APA documentation of his ability to return to unrestricted duties nor has he served any period of suspension. His name, however, appeared on an APA seniority list dated November 2001. On the basis of that exhibit, Goulet argues that APA reinstated him as of that date and did so without requiring him to submit any documentation of ability to return or to serve a 10-day suspension.

New Penn is a trucking corporation with a terminal located in Billerica, Massachusetts. Local 25 represents the New Penn drivers and dockworkers at its Billerica terminal. In February 2002, APA ceased operations, and New Penn sought to acquire APA's customers. In order to serve them, New Penn believed it might need more drivers and dockworkers. New Penn, therefore, negotiated a collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") with the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee ("TNFINC") regarding the potential hiring of APA employees.

Under that agreement, in order for APA employees to receive work opportunities from New Penn, Local 25 was required to provide New Penn with a list identifying by name all of the APA employees who wanted to be placed on New Penn's call list, along with their terminal preferences. The CBA provided that New Penn was not obligated to place any APA employee on the terminal call list or to provide any APA employee with work unless he placed his name on the seniority call list by March 1, 2002. The CBA states, in pertinent part:

No APA NMFA [National Master Freight Agreement] employee shall be required to place his/her name on any NPME [New Penn Motor Express] terminal call list. NPME shall have no obligation to any APA NMFA employee who chooses not to place his/her name on a NPME terminal call list by March 1, 2002. Additionally, NPME shall have no obligation to APA NMFA employees until TNFINC provides the APA NMFA terminal selection call lists in accordance with this agreement. (Emphasis supplied.)

When he found out that APA was closing, Goulet called Doug Francey, the steward for Local 25 in the APA Canton facility. Francey had been instructed to find out where each employee wanted to go if called to work for New Penn. The choices were Cranston, Rhode Island, or Billerica, Massachusetts. Goulet told Francey he would prefer to work for New Penn at the Billerica terminal. Goulet's name did not appear on the official APA seniority list given to Francey. Francey wrote Goulet's name in ink at the bottom of the call list he was preparing, despite Goulet's not having provided any documentation to APA concerning his ability to return to work. After filling out employees' preferences of terminal, Francey gave the list to Mark Harrington, the Local 25 Business Agent, who had represented Goulet in his October 16, 2001 grievance.

On February 22, 2002, Local 25 President George Cashman brought several documents to his assistant, Janet McLaughlin, and told her to fax them to the Teamsters' International Office in Washington. Cashman told her to write on the cover sheets, "Per request of the Eastern Region Freight Department, attached please find seniority list (preference list) with the most up-to-date information that we have at the present time. Any questions please call." The preference lists faxed to the Teamsters' International Office did not include Goulet's name or his preference for the New Penn terminal in Billerica. On February 28, 2002, Cashman wrote directly to Dan Schmidt, the Vice President of Labor Relations for New Penn. He enclosed an "updated list of former employees of A.P.A. in Canton, Massachusetts," noting that the area code of one employee's phone number had changed and that another employee had shifted his terminal preference. Goulet's name and terminal preference were not on this list either.

In March, 2002, Goulet called William Carnes, the Local 25 Business Agent for New Penn, to ask about the call list. Carnes testified that he called the Billerica terminal on behalf of Goulet, and that the terminal manager responded with an expletive suggesting a negative reaction. Goulet testified that Carnes also told him that New Penn had indicated that Goulet was not on the call list the union had provided. The call lists provided to New Penn did not include Goulet's name.

Goulet was never called to work by New Penn. Goulet prepared a hand-written grievance on April 7, 2003, alleging that he should have been called to work. Carnes left the union office on May 2, 2003. Harrington was assigned to be the new Local 25 business agent for New Penn. Goulet called Harrington's office on approximately May 3, 2003 to inquire about the grievance. Harrington said he was not aware of the grievance and that Goulet should send him a copy. During this conversation, Harrington questioned Goulet about his medical fitness to return to work. Harrington knew Goulet had not complied with the decision of the grievance panel and that employees had to be medically cleared to work in the freight industry.

Goulet sent Harrington a letter on July 25, 2003, enclosing a copy of the grievance he had sent to Carnes. Following up on their earlier conversation, Goulet wrote in the letter, "Let's not lose sight of the real issue here in this grievance. It's about seniority rights under the agreement, not weather [sic] one was capable of working or not." Goulet subsequently called Harrington's office again. Harrington stated that he had received a copy of the grievance and was looking into it. Goulet was aware that the grievance had not yet been docketed. The grievance was docketed with the Eastern Region Joint Area Committee ("Joint Area Committee") in September of 2003.

Harrington had meetings with Goulet in order to prepare for the arbitration of the call list grievance. During these meetings, Goulet expressed ambivalence about whether he wanted to go back to work, and was not sure if he was physically able to work.¹ Nonetheless, Harrington prepared a written brief and filed it on behalf of Goulet in July, 2004.

The Joint Area Committee heard the grievance on July 26, 2004. A representative from New Penn brought a point of order before the Committee that the grievance was improper as Local 25 had not docketed the case within thirty days. The Joint Area Committee denied Goulet's grievance because the case had not been docketed within thirty days.

On or about December 9, 2004, Goulet filed this action under 29 U.S.C. § 185 against New Penn and Local 25 in the district court. In his complaint, inter alia, he alleged:

19. When New Penn failed to put Goulet on its call list, it breached the collective bargaining agreement then in effect between...