International Longshoremen's Ass'n, AFL-CIO v. National Mediation Bd.

• Decision Date: 21 March 1986
• Docket Number: A,No. 85-5363,AFL-CI,85-5363
• Citation: 785 F.2d 1098
• Parties: 121 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3285, 251 U.S.App.D.C. 410, 104 Lab.Cas. P 11,872 INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION,ppellant, v. NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD, et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 1098

785 F.2d 1098

121 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3285, 251 U.S.App.D.C. 410,

104 Lab.Cas. P 11,872

INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION, AFL-CIO, Appellant, v. NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD, et al.

No. 85-5363.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Feb. 10, 1986.

Decided March 21, 1986.

Ernest L. Mathews, Jr., with whom Thomas W. Gleason, New York City, was on brief, for appellant.

Edward R. Cohen, Atty., Dept. of Justice, with whom Richard K. Willard, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Dept. of Justice, Joseph E. diGenova, U.S. Atty., Robert S. Greenspan, Dept. of Justice and Ronald E. Etters, Gen. Counsel, Nat. Mediation Bd., Washington, D.C., were on brief, for appellee, Nat. Mediation Bd. Anthony J. Steinmeyer and Marleigh Dover, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., also entered appearances for appellee, Nat. Mediation Bd.

Roy A. Giles, Raleigh, N.C., was on brief, for appellee, North Carolina Ports Ry. Com'n. Dennis P. Myers, Raleigh, N.C., entered an appearance for appellee, North Carolina Ports Authority.

Before MIKVA, GINSBURG and SILBERMAN, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge GINSBURG.

GINSBURG, Circuit Judge:

This is a case in which we confront two lines of decisions that start from the same station but now run on separate tracks. The district court followed the line that does not govern this case and disregarded the one that does. Because both we and the district court are obliged to follow the law of the circuit training most directly on this controversy, we must reverse the district court's judgment and remand the case for further proceedings.

We summarily state the core of the controversy. The State of North Carolina formerly operated under one agency, North Carolina State Ports Authority (SPA), seaport facilities at Wilmington and Morehead City, North Carolina, and terminal railroads connecting the ports with two main trunk line haul railroads. In 1970, based on the railroad operation, the National Mediation Board (NMB or Board) ranked the SPA as a "carrier" within the coverage of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), 45 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq., First; after an election, the NMB certified the International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) as the collective bargaining representative of the SPA's dockmen, warehousemen, and security guards. The SPA and the ILA eventually negotiated two successive collective bargaining agreements, the first running from July 1975 to December 1977, the second, from January 1978 to December 1980.

In 1979, however, the state legislature created a new agency, North Carolina Ports Railway Commission (PRC), to take over and operate the SPA's railroad facilities. The ILA, in August 1980, invoked the services of the NMB to mediate a dispute that arose in contract negotiations with the SPA. The SPA moved to dismiss the ILA's application on the ground that transfer of the SPA's railroad facilities to the PRC divested the SPA of its character as a "carrier" under the RLA. After June-July 1981 hearings, the NMB determined, in June 8, 1982, "Findings Upon Investigation," that the SPA's carrier status had terminated as a consequence of the PRC's takeover and operation of the port railroad facilities. Because the SPA was no longer a carrier, the NMB declared, the ILA's authority to represent SPA employees under the RLA came to an end. The ILA then petitioned for judicial review.

The district court dismissed the ILA's complaint because it believed courts lack jurisdiction to review decisions of the NMB. That court's Memorandum and Order featured several opinions holding that labor board representation orders generally are not reviewable. Appropriately, the district court commenced its analysis with Switchmen's Union v. NMB, 320 U.S. 297, 64 S.Ct. 95, 88 L.Ed. 61 (1943). The district court failed to observe, however, the separate case lines that have run from that terminal. We set out the two tracks as they now appear to be laid.

Switchmen's Union held unreviewable NMB certifications of election results between The most recent major station-stops along this track in our circuit were made in two cases involving the NLRB, Physicians National House Staff Association v. Fanning, 642 F.2d 492 (D.C.Cir.1980) (en banc), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 917, 101 S.Ct. 1360, 67 L.Ed.2d 342 (1981), and Hartz Mountain Corp. v. Dotson, 727 F.2d 1308 (D.C.Cir.1984). In both decisions, we stressed the narrowness of the Kyne exception. Relying on these recent decisions, the district court correctly determined that the tight Kyne exception does not accommodate the facts of this case.

                rival unions, but the Supreme Court's opinion signaled caution:  it warned against generalizations about the reviewability of NMB orders.  See 320 U.S. at 301, 64 S.Ct. at 97.  The first track running out from this opinion carries decisions declaring that NMB representation orders are ordinarily unreviewable, except for a closely cabined class.  The early cases carried on this line in fact involved not the NMB but the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  In Leedom v. Kyne, 358 U.S. 184, 79 S.Ct. 180, 3 L.Ed.2d 210 (1958), the Court held that NLRB representation orders are unreviewable save for orders "made in excess of [the NLRB's] powers and contrary to a specific prohibition in the Act."    Id. at 188, 79 S.Ct. at 184.  The Court observed that Switchmen's Union had not involved such an order and indeed included language indicating that such orders would be reviewable.  Id. at 189-91, 79 S.Ct. at 184-85.    See also Boire v. Greyhound Corp., 376 U.S. 473, 84 S.Ct. 894, 11 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964) (reaffirming Kyne ).  In Brotherhood of Railway & Steamship Clerks v. Association for the Benefit of Non-Contract Employees, 380 U.S. 650, 659-60, 85 S.Ct. 1192, 1197-98, 14 L.Ed.2d 133 (1965) (ABNCE ), the Court applied the Kyne analysis directly to an order of the NMB;  the Court held, however, that the order challenged in ABNCE did not fit within the exception
                

The district court ignored, however, the other track that runs out from Switchmen's Union. In Air Line Dispatchers Association v. NMB, 189 F.2d 685 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 342 U.S. 849, 72 S.Ct. 77, 96 L.Ed. 641 (1951) (ALDA ), this court held reviewable NMB orders concluding that the NMB lacks jurisdiction over particular applications for the Board's mediation services. The ALDA court stated that the Supreme Court's decisions holding NMB dispositions unreviewable involved orders "settling a dispute over representation.... The question [in those cases] was not as to the power of the Board to resolve the dispute but whether it had done so in an erroneous manner." Id. at 688. The opinion observed that Switchmen's Union had reserved the question of the reviewability of NMB orders finding no jurisdiction, and concluded that section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act, now codified at 5 U.S.C. Sec. 702, authorizes courts to review such jurisdiction-disclaiming orders.

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