LOCAL 1852 WATERFRONT GUARD ASS'N, ETC. v. Amstar Corp.

• Decision Date: 14 September 1973
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 73-133-N.
• Citation: 363 F. Supp. 1026
• Parties: LOCAL 1852 WATERFRONT GUARD ASSOCIATION OF the PORT OF BALTIMORE I. W. A., a labor organization v. AMSTAR CORPORATION and Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore, Inc.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

363 F. Supp. 1026

LOCAL 1852 WATERFRONT GUARD ASSOCIATION OF the PORT OF BALTIMORE I. W. A., a labor organization v. AMSTAR CORPORATION and Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore, Inc.

Civ. A. No. 73-133-N.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

September 14, 1973.

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Wilfred L. Davis, New York City, and Philip H. Goodman, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.

John Henry Lewin, Jr., and Venable, Baetjer & Howard, Baltimore, Md., and John D. O'Brien, Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson, Washington, D. C., for defendant Amstar Corp.

A. Adgate Duer and Paul B. Lang, Niles, Barton & Wilmer, Baltimore, Md., for defendant Steamship Trade Ass'n of Baltimore, Inc.

NORTHROP, Chief Judge.

Defendants Amstar Corporation (Amstar) and Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore (S.T.A.) have moved for dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) or in the alternative for Summary Judgment, Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.

FACTS

Plaintiff Local 1852 Waterfront Guard Association of the Port of Baltimore, I.W.A. (Union) is a labor organization that represents guards and/or watchmen employed in the Port of Baltimore. Defendant S.T.A. is the duly authorized bargaining representative of employers engaged in the shipping industry in the Baltimore port. Defendant Amstar owns and operates a sugar refining facility in the Inner Harbor area of the Port. In its business Amstar obtains raw sugar from ocean going vessels, processes it at the refinery, and sells the refined sugar to industrial users, grocery chains, and the federal government. Amstar has been a member of S.T.A. for the past 25 years.

Effective October 1, 1950, the Union entered into a collective bargaining agreement with S.T.A., who was acting on behalf of all of its employer members, whereby the Union was designated the exclusive agent for all employees who performed security work in certain specified areas of the Port, e. g. watching gangways, pier properties, cargo to and from the ships, etc. In a collective bargaining agreement effective January 1, 1966 between the Union and S.T.A., the following paragraph was added to the language of prior agreements in an apparent attempt to enlarge the Union's jurisdiction:

It is the intent and purpose of the Association and the Union that this agreement will promote and insure the security of the Port of Baltimore and Vicinity and harmonious labor relations between the parties, and that any security work, performed for employers in connection with the piers, immediate pier areas, or cargo on ships or security work in connection with passengers in the Port of Baltimore and Vicinity shall be done exclusively by members of the Union. Emphasis Added.

This paragraph was incorporated into the agreement of January 1, 1970, which was in effect at the time the dispute in the instant case arose.

Throughout the existence of these agreements, Amstar never employed any person to perform guard or security work on the pier areas, for the cargo of the ships, or at its warehouses. From 1922 to 1960, however, Amstar did employ guards, some non-union and some represented by the Meatcutters Union, at the refining facility itself. In 1960, Amstar entered into a contract with a private agency, Pinkerton's, Inc., whereby Pinkerton would perform this security work. From that time to the present, Pinkerton has furnished Amstar with nine guards or watchmen, none of whom are members of the Union or any other union.

The Union did not assert jurisdiction over the work performed by the Pinkerton guards until 1972 when it filed a grievance with S.T.A. This grievance was submitted to arbitration pursuant to section 9 of the collective bargaining agreement. On October 2, 1972, the arbitrator sustained the Union's grievance on the grounds that (1) the addition of ¶ 2 in the 1966 agreement enlarged the Union's jurisdiction to any security work in connection with the piers and immediate pier areas; (2) the Pinkerton guards were performing security work in connection with the pier and immediate pier areas. Therefore, the arbitrator declared that all nine guards employed at Amstar's facility must become and remain members of the Union.

Upon Amstar's failure to abide by or enforce the terms of the arbitration award, the Union has brought suit for enforcement pursuant to Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 § 301, 29 U. S.C. § 185. To facilitate discussion, the motions to dismiss or for summary judgment by Amstar and S.T.A. will be taken up separately.

MOTION OF STEAMSHIP TRADE ASSOCIATION TO DISMISS OR FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Steamship Trade Association asserts that Union has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, because Union has failed to allege any wrongdoing on behalf of S.T.A. In response, Union contends that S.T.A. should be retained as a party defendant in the interests of "judicial economy" and because the "implementation of the award may eventually require the presence of S.T.A. and some direction to it in a final judgment in this action."

It is an elementary principle of pleading in federal court that a complaint must state "a claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). This phrase has been construed by the Supreme Court to require only "`a short and plain statement of the claim' that will give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 103, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). In other words, the pleader must set forth the prima facie elements of the claim in such a manner as to fairly apprise the adverse party of action against him. 2A J. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 8.13, at 1700 (1972); see United States v. Employing Plasterers' Ass'n, 347 U.S. 186, 189, 74 S.Ct. 452, 98 L.Ed. 618 (1954). Since a suit to enforce an arbitration award is in reality a suit seeking performance of a private contract, see N.L.R.B. v. Bell Aircraft Corp., 206 F.2d 235, 237 (2d Cir. 1953), all the elements of a contract action must be stated. See Employing Plasterers' supra; 2A J. Moore, supra ¶ 8.176, at 1761. One such element —that the defendant has not performed his obligations under the contract, specifying the nature of the obligation—is critical to the determination of S.T.A.'s motion in the instant case.

Upon full consideration of the Union's complaint and collective bargaining agreement in light of the foregoing principles, the Union has failed to state any obligation, much less a breach thereof, on the part of S.T.A. with reference to the enforcement of the award. First, in its complaint Union states that S.T.A. is the duly authorized bargaining representative of the employers, and that S.T.A. executed the agreement in question on behalf of all its members. Paragraphs 3 & 5 of Complaint. It is a well-settled principle of agency law that an agent acting within the scope of his authority for a disclosed principal is not bound on a contract made in the principal's name. Washington Scientific Industries, Inc. v. American Safeguard Corp., 308 F.Supp. 736, 738 (D.Minn. 1970). Secondly, Union declares that the submission of the dispute with Amstar to arbitration was proper and in accordance with the arbitration procedure section of the collective bargaining agreement. Paragraph 7 of Complaint. Union thus has admitted that the duty of S.T.A. to supervise the arbitration proceeding was fulfilled. Finally, the only wrongdoing or breach of an obligation that Union has alleged appears in paragraph six (6) of the complaint and refers to only Amstar's failure to implement the award. Therefore, since the complaint has failed to set forth a critical element of a claim, namely, an obligation that S.T.A. has failed to perform, S.T.A.'s motion to dismiss, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) must be sustained. Accord, Altman v. Central of Georgia Ry. Co., 254 F.Supp. 167, 170-171 (D.D.C. 1965).

Accordingly, the motion to dismiss of defendant, Steamship Trade Association has been granted, with leave to plaintiff to file an amended complaint. Plaintiff is hereby given twenty (20) days from the date of filing hereof within which to amend its complaint.

MOTION OF AMSTAR CORPORATION TO DISMISS OR FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Amstar sets forth three basic contentions in support of its motion:

(A) The Arbitrator's award is "palpably faulty" and should not be enforced.

(B) Union is estopped from seeking enforcement of the award.

(C) The award is unenforceable because any manner of enforcement of the award would violate national labor policy embodied in the National Labor Relations Act.

(A).

Before assessing the validity of Amstar's contention that the arbitrator's award was palpably faulty, the proper role of a federal court in reviewing an arbitration award must be determined. The Supreme Court squarely addressed this issue in United Steel Workers v. Enterprise Wheel and Car Corp., 363 U. S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960) and stated that "it is the arbitrator's construction which was bargained for; and so far as the arbitrator's decision concerns construction of the contract, the courts have no business overruling him because their interpretation of the contract is different from his." 363 U.S. at 599, 80 S.Ct. at 1362. "Nevertheless, an arbitrator is confined to interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreement; he does not sit to dispense his own brand of industrial justice. . . . His award is legitimate only so long as it draws its essence from the collective bargaining agreement." 363 U.S. at 597, 80 S.Ct. at 1361. The Supreme Court thus has enunciated clearly an attitude of judicial deference to arbitration awards. The Court found a compelling rationale for this judicial hands-off policy in the fact that the device of arbitration was a successful means by which industrial disputes may be peacefully settled....