Local 447 of Painters v. Five Seasons Paint
| Decision Date | 03 April 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 4:04 CV 00683 JEG.,4:04 CV 00683 JEG. |
| Citation | 426 F.Supp.2d 982 |
| Parties | LOCAL 447 OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES, Plaintiff, v. FIVE SEASONS PAINT AND DRYWALL, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa |
Mark T. Hedberg, Nathaniel Randell Boulton, Hedberg Owens Hedberg & Walsh PC, Des Moines, IA, for Plaintiff and Counter Defendant.
Kelly R. Baier, Bradley & Riley, Cedar Rapids, IA, for Defendant and Counter Claimant.
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment (Clerk's No. 10) and Defendant's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Clerk's No. 11). Plaintiff Local 447 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades is represented by Mark Hedberg and Nathaniel Boulton. Defendant Five Seasons Paint and Drywall, Inc., is represented by Kelly Baier. Neither party has requested a hearing, and one is unnecessary to resolve the pending motions. The matter is fully submitted and is ready for disposition.
Local 447 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades ("Local 447") is a labor organization representing employees and industries affecting commerce as defined by the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 ("LMRA"). See 29 U.S.C. §§ 142(1), 152(3)-(7) (2000). The Defendant, Five Seasons Paint and Drywall, Inc. ("Five Seasons"), is an employer authorized to do business in the state of Iowa and is engaged in an industry affecting commerce as defined by the LMRA. See id. §§ 142(1), 152(2), (6)-(7). Five Seasons is owned by an individual named Randy Feaker.
Local 447 and Five Seasons entered into a collective bargaining agreement ("the Agreement") on January 11, 2001, which was retroactive to May 10, 2000. See Agreement art. XXVI, § 1. By its terms, the Agreement was to expire on April 30, 2003. Id. Upon signing the Agreement, Five Seasons "recognize[d], acknowledge[d], and agree[d] that [Local 447 was], within the meaning of Section 9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act, the exclusive representative for the purpose of collective bargaining, of all of [Five Seasons'] employees" covered by the Agreement. Id. art. II, § 1.
The Agreement contains grievance procedures designed to structure disputes between Local 447 or its members and Five Seasons. See id. art. XXII. The Agreement defines a grievance as "any dispute between [Five Seasons] and [Local 447], or between [Five Seasons] and any employee, concerning the effect, interpretation, application, claim of breach or violation of [the] Agreement, or any other dispute which may arise during the term of [the] Agreement." Id. Grievances resolved pursuant to the Agreement proceed in three steps:
Step One — The employee shall attempt to adjust any grievance with the employer's supervisor involved. The grievance must be brought to the attention of the employee's supervisor within three (3) working days of the event leading to the grievance, or the grievance is barred.
Step Two — If the employee and the supervisor are unable to reach a satisfactory settlement within three (3) working days, the grievance shall be reduced to writing and the employee may then refer the grievance to the Union with two (2) working days of the failure to reach a satisfactory settlement. If the grievance is not so referred within ten (10) days of the event leading to the grievance, the grievance is barred.
Step Three — The Union shall then proceed within three (3) working days to take the grievance up with the Employer's designee. At the request of either party, the grievance meeting shall be taken in shorthand and a transcript made thereof and a copy furnished to both parties. . . . The employer shall provide a written answer to the Union within three (3) working days of the Step Three meeting.
Id. art. XXII, § 2. The grievance procedure provides for binding arbitration in the event disputes cannot be resolved. Id. art. XXII, §§ 3-8. Although the Agreement contains time periods within which disputes are to be resolved, see id. art. XXII, §§ 2-3, 7-8, those time periods "may be extended by written mutual agreement between [Five Seasons] and [Local 447]," id. art. XXII, § 9.
On February 19, 2003, more than two months before the Agreement was to expire, Local 447 filed a grievance against Five Seasons, claiming Five Seasons performed work through a corporation named Feaker Painting, Inc., without providing the wages and benefits required by the Agreement. Local 447 contended Five Seasons violated Article 24 of the Agreement, which provides, in relevant part,
If [Five Seasons] performs on-site construction work of the type covered by this agreement, under its own name or the name of another, as a corporation, company, partnership, or other business entity, including a joint venture, wherein [Five Seasons], through its officers, directors, partners, owners, or stockholders, exercises directly or indirectly (through family members or otherwise) management, control, or majority ownership, the terms and conditions of this agreement shall be applicable to all such work.
Id. art. XXIV, § 1 (emphasis added). "[C]harges of violations" of this provision are to be processed under the grievance procedure. Id. art. XXIV, § 2.
Local 447 and Five Seasons exchanged pertinent written correspondence during the time this grievance was pending. A March 13, 2003, letter authored by William Guyer, Local 447's business manager and secretary-treasurer, suggested to Kelly Baler, Five Seasons' attorney, that the parties "agree in writing to extend the deadline [applicable to Local 447's grievance] until the parties either settle the grievance or one of the parties notifies the other of its intent to go forward." A March 19, 2003, letter authored by Baier indicated Five Seasons "agree[d] that the time period for filing the . . . grievance be extended until the parties either settle the grievance or one of the parties notifies the other of its intent to go forward." Neither letter refers to negotiations relating to or terms to be contained within a new collective bargaining agreement.
Nearly sixteen months later, on July 16, 2004, Local 447 notified Five Seasons of its intent to proceed to arbitration with its grievance. Deb Groene, Guyer's successor, indicated in a November 2005 affidavit that Five Seasons has steadfastly refused to arbitrate Local 447's grievance.
At a time near their March 2003 correspondence (the record provides no specific date), the parties began negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Five Seasons claims Guyer suggested to Feaker that if Five Seasons agreed to extend the time period within which Local 447's grievance could be resolved, any new collective bargaining agreement would include certain terms apparently favorable to Five Seasons. Feaker claims he relied on Guyer's statements when he agreed to an extension.
The parties mutually agreed to delay the Agreement's expiration for ninety days so negotiations could continue. By March 2004, Local 447 became unresponsive to Five Seasons' requests for further negotiations. No new agreement was ultimately reached. Five Seasons claims its employees subsequently de-authorized their union dues checkoff that had previously gone to Local 447. Five Seasons also claims the Union Health and Welfare Fund, an entity providing health care insurance coverage to Five Seasons' employees under the Agreement, ceased providing health care insurance to Five Seasons employees on April 1, 2004. This conduct, Five Seasons contends, shows Local 447 abandoned its representation of Five Seasons employees' following the Agreement's expiration. Five Seasons argues Local 447 contemporaneously lost its authority to compel arbitration of its grievance.
Local 447 initiated the present action on December 7, 2004, seeking to compel Five Seasons to arbitrate its grievance in accordance with the Agreement. Local 447 has moved for summary judgment on this claim, claiming no fact question exists regarding whether Five Seasons must submit the grievance to arbitration. Five Seasons has also moved for summary judgment on Local 447's claim, arguing that because the Agreement has expired and because Local 447 thereafter abandoned its representation of Five Seasons' employees, Local 447 lacks authority to compel arbitration.
In addition to denying that Local 447 is entitled to the relief it seeks, Five Seasons has filed two counterclaims, each challenged by a motion for summary judgment by Local 447. In its first counterclaim, Five Seasons claims Local 447 violated Article 8 of the Agreement, which required Local 447 to "refer applicants for employment" to Five Seasons, Agreement art. VIII, § 3, and also failed to ensure forty hours of mandatory apprentice training was held on a quarterly basis, as required by the Agreement. Local 447 has moved for summary judgment, arguing this counterclaim should be processed through the grievance procedure set forth in the Agreement. Local 447 further argues that any claim Five Seasons could have advanced premised on violations of the Agreement have been extinguished by operation of the applicable statute of limitations, as well as by the Agreement itself.
In its second counterclaim, Five Seasons claims Local 447 committed the tort of negligent misrepresentation. More specifically, Five Seasons contends Guyer falsely represented he would concede to the inclusion of terms apparently favorable to Five Seasons in a new collective bargaining agreement in exchange for an extension of the deadlines applicable to Local 447's grievance. Moving for summary judgment, Local 447 argues Five Seasons' counterclaim is preempted by the NLRA because evaluating the validity of this counterclaim necessitates construing the Agreement. Alternatively, Local 447 posits Five Seasons has not generated a fact question on each element of its second counterclaim.1
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...arise during the term of this Agreement,” this Court found it to be broad. Local 447 of the Int'l Union of Painters & Allied Trades v. Five Seasons Paint & Drywall, Inc., 426 F.Supp.2d 982, 993–94 (S.D.Iowa 2006). In finding those clauses were broad, these courts focused on language such as......
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