International Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. Aloha Airlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-2693,P,AFL-CI,84-2693
• Citation: 790 F.2d 727
• Parties: 122 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2642, 104 Lab.Cas. P 11,810 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS,laintiffs-Appellants, v. ALOHA AIRLINES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 727

790 F.2d 727

122 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2642, 104 Lab.Cas. P 11,810

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS, AFL-CIO, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. ALOHA AIRLINES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 84-2693.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Nov. 14, 1985.

Decided Feb. 6, 1986.

As Amended May 21, 1986.

Herbert R. Takahashi, Honolulu, Hawaii, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Robert Katz, Richard M. Rand, Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Before SKOPIL, FLETCHER, and ALARCON, Circuit Judges.

ALARCON, Circuit Judge:

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (hereinafter IAM) appeals from the district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of Aloha Airlines, Inc. (hereinafter Aloha), on the IAM's complaint for declaratory relief and damages for breach of the collective bargaining agreement and for violations of the "status quo" provisions of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), 45 U.S.C. Secs. 151-188 (1982). This case presents a question of first impression in this circuit: what statute of limitations is applicable to an action for breach of a collective bargaining agreement and for violations of the "status quo" provisions of the RLA? We conclude that principles of res judicata bar relitigation in this action of IAM's request for compulsory arbitration. However, IAM's requests for declaratory relief and damages for breach of the collective bargaining agreement and for breach of the RLA's status quo provisions are not barred as they have not been litigated previously. We further find that the instant action was timely filed within the limitations period then applicable.

I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Aloha, a common carrier under section 201 of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 181 (1982), entered into a collective bargaining agreement with the IAM on December 6, 1979 (the Basic Agreement). Article XXIII of the Basic Agreement provided that the agreement would remain in force through December 31, and would renew itself each year unless a notice of intended change was served by one of the parties.

As a result of financial difficulties within the airline industry during 1981-82, the IAM agreed to temporary wage and benefit concessions in an Interim Agreement which became effective on April 2, 1982 and was incorporated into the Basic Agreement. The Interim Agreement provided that the concessions would be effective only through February 28, 1983, and that on March 1, 1983, the Basic Agreement would renew itself without change unless either party filed a notice of intended change.

On December 30, 1982, the IAM served a notice of intended change on Aloha, proposing modifications in the Basic Agreement. The parties commenced bargaining in January 1983. They reached an impasse, and the dispute moved into mediation pursuant to section 5 of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 155 (1982). On February 11, 1983, Aloha advised the IAM that the terms of the Interim Agreement would continue in effect beyond March 1, 1983 and until further notice. The IAM filed grievances with Aloha on behalf of the clerical and mechanical units concerning Aloha's proposal to continue paying wages and benefits in accordance with the Interim Agreement. The grievances were processed to a deadlock under the grievance procedure set forth in Article XV of the collective bargaining agreement. On June 24, 1983, Aloha notified the IAM by letter that it refused to submit the dispute to arbitration pursuant to Articles XV and XVI of the collective bargaining agreement because it was a major dispute which was not subject to binding arbitration under the RLA. Aloha relied upon the status quo provisions of the RLA, which require both parties to a collective bargaining agreement to preserve the status quo after service of a notice of intended change until a new agreement is reached or the RLA's mediation procedures have been exhausted. See 45 U.S.C. Secs. 155, 156 (1982). ¹

The IAM filed an action in Hawaii state court on July 27, 1983 to compel arbitration of the dispute. Aloha removed the action to federal court on the grounds that it was a dispute arising under the RLA, and counterclaimed for declaratory and injunctive relief. Aloha also filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of compelling arbitration. The district court granted Aloha's motion for partial summary judgment and denied the IAM's petition to compel arbitration on October 25, 1983. This court affirmed the district court's judgment on the IAM's interlocutory appeal. IAM v. Aloha Airlines, Inc., 776 F.2d 812, 816 (9th Cir.1985).

On March 9, 1984, the IAM filed a second complaint in district court on behalf of the clerical and mechanical employees, seeking declaratory relief and damages for breach of contract and for violations of the status quo provisions of the RLA. The complaint also seeks an order to arbitrate the dispute. Aloha filed a motion to dismiss the entire action on res judicata grounds and for sanctions. The district court treated Aloha's motion as a summary judgment motion and granted it on the grounds that the previous ruling on the petition to compel arbitration was res judicata of the second action for declaratory relief and damages. Aloha's motion for sanctions was denied.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Grigsby v. CMI Corp., 765 F.2d 1369, 1373 (9th Cir.1985). We apply the same standard as that employed by the trial court under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c): we will affirm only if the record, read in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, reveals no genuine issues of material fact and establishes that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.

III. RES JUDICATA

Under the doctrine of res judicata, a final judgment on the merits precludes relitigation of claims which were or could have been raised in a prior action. Amaro v. Continental Can Co., 724 F.2d 747, 749 (9th Cir.1984). All issues that were litigated or that might have been litigated as part of the prior cause of action are barred. Los Angeles Branch NAACP v. Los Angeles Unified School District, 750 F.2d 731, 737 (9th Cir.1984) (en banc), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 247, 88 L.Ed.2d 256. The IAM contends that the district court's grant of partial summary judgment in the prior action was not a judgment "on the merits" of the present dispute so as to preclude relitigation of claims which were or could have been raised in that action. Instead, the IAM argues that the district court's ruling that the dispute was not arbitrable was a jurisdictional ruling.

The district court's memorandum opinion in the prior action addresses the question whether the IAM's grievance involved a minor dispute subject to arbitration under the parties' collective bargaining agreement, or a major dispute involving the application of the status quo provisions of the RLA. The district court in the prior action did not purport to resolve the primary question raised by the instant complaint: whether Aloha's refusal to reinstate the terms of the Basic Agreement violates the collective bargaining agreement and the status quo provisions of the RLA. On the IAM's interlocutory appeal in the prior action another panel of this court determined that the dispute was a major dispute not subject to arbitration. IAM v. Aloha Airlines, Inc., 776 F.2d at 816. The court viewed the case as raising only the narrow question whether the dispute was arbitrable, and expressly refused to resolve on appeal the terms and conditions of employment which should apply during the status quo period under the RLA. Id. at 816-17.

Because this court's resolution of the IAM's previous action settled the question whether the IAM's grievance was arbitrable, the IAM's request in its second complaint for an order compelling arbitration is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. The remainder of the IAM's second action, however, is not barred by res judicata principles. The merits of the dispute--whether Aloha's refusal to reinstate the terms of the Basic Agreement violates the collective bargaining agreement and the status quo provisions of the RLA--were not actually litigated in the prior action to compel arbitration.

The claims raised by the IAM in the instant case could not have been raised in the prior action. When faced with a petition to compel arbitration, a court's role is limited to " 'ascertaining whether the party seeking arbitration is making a claim which on its face is governed by the contract.' " United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Alpha Beta Co., 736 F.2d 1371, 1374 (9th Cir.1984) (quoting United Steelworkers v. American Manufacturing Co., 363 U.S. 564, 567-68, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 1346, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960) ). The court neither resolves the underlying factual controversy nor weighs the relative merits of the parties' claims. URS Co.-Kansas City v. Titus County Hospital Dist., 604 F.Supp. 423, 424 (W.D.Mo.1985).

Aloha nevertheless contends that the IAM should have joined its motion to compel arbitration and its claim for declaratory relief and damages in a single action, and argues that the IAM gambled and lost by deliberately splitting its cause of action. Aloha's argument is meritless. Applying the standard enunciated by this court in Costantini v. Trans World Airlines, 681 F.2d 1199 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1087, 103 S.Ct. 570, 74 L.Ed.2d 932 (1982), we find that the two actions involve different claims. In Costantini, we established the following criteria for determining whether successive lawsuits involve a single cause of action:

"(1) whether rights or interests established in the prior judgment would be destroyed or impaired by prosecution of the second action; (2) whether substantially the same evidence is presented in the two actions; (3) whether the two suits involve infringement of the...