Green v. Ariz. Cardinals Football Club LLC
| Decision Date | 14 May 2014 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 4:14CV461 CDP. |
| Citation | 21 F.Supp.3d 1020 |
| Parties | Roy GREEN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ARIZONA CARDINALS FOOTBALL CLUB LLC, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Kenneth B. McClain, Humphrey and Farrington, Independence, MO, for Plaintiffs.
Omri E. Praiss, Husch Blackwell, LLP, St. Louis, MO, Brad S. Karp, Bruce A. Birenboim, Paul and Weiss, New York, NY, for Defendant.
This matter involves a question of subject-matter jurisdiction after removal. Three former professional football players and their wives brought claims for negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, and loss of consortium against the players' former employer, the National Football League team now known as the Arizona Cardinals Football Club, LLC (the Team).1 The Team removed the case to federal court on the grounds that the Labor Management Relations Act preempts plaintiffs' state law claims. The Team asks that I stay all proceedings in this matter pending a decision by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation as to whether the case should be transferred to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to become part of In re: National Football League Players' Concussion Injury Litigation, No. 12–md–2323. Plaintiffs ask me to remand the case to state court. Because the duties owed to the plaintiffs arise independently from the collective bargaining agreements and because the merits of the plaintiffs' claims can be evaluated without interpreting any of the agreements' terms, I will remand the case to state court.
Plaintiffs include three former professional football players employed by the Team during the following years: Roy Green from 1979 through 1987, John Thomas “J.T.” Smith from 1985 through 1987, and Edward Scott in 1987 (the Players).
The other two plaintiffs are Jade Scott and Monica Smith, who are the respective wives of Edward Scott and J.T. Smith (the Wives).
Green entered into two collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with the agent of the Team. The first CBA was entered into on March 1, 1977 and expired on July 15, 1982 (the 1977 CBA). The second CBA was entered into on December 11, 1982, made effective July 16, 1982, and expired on August 31, 1987 (the 1982 CBA). Smith only entered into the 1982 CBA. Scott was never employed at a time during which a CBA was in effect.
The Players allege that they suffered multiple concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head between September 1, 1987 and December 1987.2 They allege that the Team, as their employer, owed them several duties, including the duties to maintain a safe working environment, not to expose employees to unreasonable risks of harm, and to warn employees about the existence of concealed dangers. The Players allege that although these risks were outside of their own reasonable knowledge, the Team knew or should have known “for many years” that the sort of brain trauma
to which the Players were exposed can lead to neurological impairments, including Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), and that studies demonstrating that link were published as early as the 1920s.3 Despite this knowledge, the Team is alleged to have represented to the Players that concussions are not “serious” and lack long term effects.
The Players further allege that the Team increased the risk of exposure to brain trauma
by forcing the Players to return to work after they were concussed and by installing AstroTurf, a playing surface that yields faster, more dangerous play and increases the risk of concussion.
The Players brought suit in state court against the Team for negligence, negligent concealment, and fraudulent concealment. The Wives brought claims for loss of consortium.4
The Team argues that any duties owed by the Team to the Players, and the degree to which the discharge of those duties was reasonable, must be determined by interpreting the CBAs. The Team argues that the following sections of the 1982 CBA require interpretation in order to resolve the plaintiffs' claims:
The 1982 CBA also incorporates a standard player contract that was used for players signed after that year. That contract has a paragraph governing injuries:
9. INJURY. If Player is injured in the performance of his services under this contract and promptly reports such injury to the Club physician or trainer, then Player will receive such medical and hospital care during the term of this contract as the Club's physician may deem necessary, ...
Any civil action brought in a state court over which the federal district courts have original jurisdiction may be removed to the proper district court. 28 U.S.C. 1441(a). “The presence of even one federal claim gives the defendant the right to remove the entire case to federal court.” Williams v. Ragnone, 147 F.3d 700, 703 (8th Cir.1998) (alteration and citation omitted). If the district court determines it does not have subject-matter jurisdiction over a removed action, it must remand the action to state court where it originated. 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c). Removal statutes are strictly construed, and any doubts about the propriety of removal must be resolved in favor of remand. In re Bus. Men's Assurance Co. of Am., 992 F.2d 181, 183 (8th Cir.1993). As the party invoking jurisdiction, the defendant has the burden of establishing that prerequisites to jurisdiction have been satisfied. Id.; Hatridge v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 415 F.2d 809, 814 (8th Cir.1969). Generally, when determining whether removal was proper, the court must look to the plaintiff's pleadings at the time of removal. Pullman Co. v. Jenkins, 305 U.S. 534, 537–38, 59 S.Ct. 347, 83 L.Ed. 334 (1939). The basis for federal jurisdiction must be apparent from the face of the plaintiff's properly pleaded complaint. Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987).
Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act states that federal law governs “suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization.” 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). Section 301 completely preempts state law claims that are “substantially dependent upon analysis” of a CBA, Allis–Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 220, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985), because “the application of state law ... might lead to inconsistent results since there could be as many state law principles as there are States.” Lingle v. Norge Div. of Magic Chef, Inc., 486 U.S. 399, 406, 108 S.Ct. 1877, 100 L.Ed.2d 410 (1988) ; see also Williams v. National Football League, 582 F.3d 863, 874 (8th Cir.2009). Where a complaint raises issues to which federal law applies with complete preemptive force, the Court must look beyond the face of the complaint in determining whether remand is proper. Williams, 582 F.3d at 874.
In applying the § 301 complete preemption doctrine, the court begins with the “claim itself,” Trs. of the Twin City Bricklayers Fringe Benefit Funds v. Superior Waterproofing, Inc., 450 F.3d 324, 331 (8th Cir.2006), and applies a two-step approach in order to determine if the claim is sufficiently “independent” to survive complete preemption. Williams, 582 F.3d at 874. First, a state law claim is preempted if it is “based on” a provision of the CBA, meaning that “the CBA provision is at issue” and “it actually sets forth the right upon which the claim is based.” Id. Second, § 301 complete preemption applies where a state law claim “is dependent upon an analysis of the relevant CBA,” meaning that the resolution of plaintiff's state law claim requires interpretation of a provision of the CBA. Id. The Eighth Circuit in Williams reiterated that 301 preemption only applies to claims that “require interpretation or construction of the CBA” as opposed to “those which only require reference to it” or where “the CBA need only be consulted during its adjudication.” Id. at 876 (quoting Superior Waterproofing, 450 F.3d at 330 ). Purely factual inquiries into an employer's conduct or motives that do not require construction of a CBA will not necessitate preemption. Gore v. Trans World Airlines, 210 F.3d 944, 949 (8th Cir.2000).
The fact that a defendant might ultimately prove that a plaintiff's claims are preempted ... does not establish that they are removable to federal court. Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 398, 107 S.Ct. 2425. This is because § 301 preemption does not override the basic principle that the plaintiff is the master of the complaint. Id. at 398–99, 107 S.Ct. 2425. Courts must be careful to ensure that interpretation of a CBA is required by the plaintiff's claim itself and not by a defense injected by the defendant. Id. at 399, 107 S.Ct. 2425.
As a preliminary matter, I will not stay ruling on remand. “A putative transferor court need not automatically postpone rulings on pending motions, or in any way generally suspend proceedings, merely on grounds that an MDL transfer motion has been filed.”Tortola Rests., L.P. v. Kimberly–Clark Corp., 987 F.Supp. 1186, 1188–89 (N.D.Cal.1997) (citing Manual for Complex Litigation 3d § 31.131, p. 252 (3d ed.1995) ). This is...
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