Metheney v. Monarch Rubber Co.
| Decision Date | 15 April 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.A. 2:98-1227.,Civ.A. 2:98-1227. |
| Citation | 43 F.Supp.2d 588 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia |
| Parties | James METHENEY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. MONARCH RUBBER CO., et al., Defendants. |
Robert P. Martin and Robert L. McKinney, Bastien & Martin, Charleston, WV, for plaintiffs.
Brian D. Yost, Holroyd & Yost, Charleston, WV, for defendants.
Pending are Plaintiffs' motion to remand and Defendants' motion to dismiss. The motions are ripe for review. After careful consideration, the Court GRANTS the motion to remand and DENIES as moot the motion to dismiss.1
Defendant Monarch Rubber Company ("Monarch") operates a manufacturing facility in Spencer, Roane County, West Virginia. Defendants Jerry Greathouse and Ronald Summers are manager and assistant manager, respectively, at Monarch.
Plaintiffs James Metheney, Donald Digman, Tim Evans, Henry Schreckengost, Robert Shafer and James Webb2 are employees of Monarch and members of the Construction and General Laborers Local Union No. 1353 ("Laborers Local 1353," "Union"). All are residents of Spencer, Roane County, West Virginia.
This civil action arises in the context of a bitter labor dispute between Monarch and the Union. At the time of the alleged occurrences, Plaintiff employees were on strike. In October 1997, and allegedly continuing to the present time, several flyers were distributed by yet unascertained persons which describe Plaintiff employees3 and Local 1353 members in general as engaging in homosexual prostitution.4 See Exs. 1-4, Complaint. Plaintiffs allege several of the flyers were displayed on the grounds of Monarch's facility with the knowledge of Greathouse and Summers, who did not remove them. Plaintiffs also allege Summers has verbally repeated the flyers' contents on several occasions.
Plaintiffs commenced the instant action on December 1, 1998 in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, alleging defamation and the tort of outrage under state law. On December 28, Defendants removed to this Court. On January 21, 1999 Plaintiffs moved to remand, and on January 28, Defendants moved to dismiss.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a), removal is proper whenever the district court has original jurisdiction over the action. Diversity jurisdiction is not available, nor do Defendants argue such. The sole question is whether the Court possesses federal question jurisdiction, stated as "original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
Removal statutes must be strictly construed and the burden of establishing the propriety of removal is upon the removing parties. Cline v. Matney, 20 F.Supp.2d 977, 978 (S.D.W.Va.1998) (Haden, C.J.). "`Any doubts concerning the propriety of removal must be resolved in favor of retained state court jurisdiction.'" Bazilla v. Belva Coal Co., 939 F.Supp. 476, 477 (S.D.W.Va.1996) (Haden, C.J.) (quoting Scott v. Greiner, 858 F.Supp. 607, 610 (S.D.W.Va.1994) (Haden, C.J.) (citations omitted)).
Our Court of Appeals has recently addressed the posture in which a court addresses this scenario. See Owen v. Carpenters' District Council, 161 F.3d 767 (4th Cir.1998). Under the well-pleaded complaint rule, a defendant may remove only if the federal question is "presented on the face of the plaintiff's properly pleaded complaint." Id. at 772 (quoting Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987)). A federal defense, even if it is a preemption defense and the only issue in the case, is insufficient to confer federal question jurisdiction. Id.; see also Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 398, 107 S.Ct. 2425 () (footnote omitted); Franchise Tax Bd. v. Constr. Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 14, 103 S.Ct. 2841, 77 L.Ed.2d 420 (1983).
Nonetheless, "[t]here exists a class of cases where the preemptive force of a statute is so `extraordinary' that any claim based on preempted state law is considered a claim arising under federal law." Owen, 161 F.3d at 772 (citing Childers v. Chesapeake & Potomac Tel. Co., 881 F.2d 1259, 1261 (4th Cir.1989)). The "complete preemption" corollary "`converts an ordinary state common law complaint into one stating a federal claim for purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule.'" Id. (quoting Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 65, 107 S.Ct. 1542, 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987)).
Defendants argue Plaintiffs' state law claims are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 141 et seq. ("the Act," "NLRA"), because the activities at issue are "arguably subject to § 7 or § 8 of the Act," San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 244-45, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), such that there is a potential for conflict between the NLRA and the state law.
Section 301 of the LMRA has such "extraordinary" preemptive force as to convert state law claims into federal claims,5 see Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. v. Norris, 512 U.S. 246, 258-64, 114 S.Ct. 2239, 129 L.Ed.2d 203 (1994), as does Section 502(f) of ERISA, see Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 65-66, 107 S.Ct. 1542, 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987). In determining that ERISA's Section 502(f) completely preempted state law claims, the Supreme Court cautioned that,
Even with a provision such as § 502(a)(1)(B) that lies at the heart of a statute with the unique pre-emptive force of ERISA, however, we would be reluctant to find that extraordinary preemptive power, such as has been found with respect to § 301 of the LMRA, that converts an ordinary state common law complaint into one stating a federal claim for purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule. But the language of the jurisdictional subsection of ERISA's civil enforcement provisions closely parallels that of § 301 of the LMRA.
...
[T]he touchstone of the federal district court's removal jurisdiction is not the "obviousness" of the pre-emption defense but the intent of Congress. Indeed, as we have noted, even an "obvious" pre-emption defense does not, in most cases, create removal jurisdiction. In this case, however, Congress has clearly manifested an intent to make causes of action within the scope of the civil enforcement provisions of § 502(a) removable to federal court.
Taylor, 481 U.S. at 65-66, 107 S.Ct. 1542 (citations omitted); see also id. at 68, 107 S.Ct. 1542 (Brennan, J., concurring) ().
In Garmon, the Supreme Court held that "when an activity is arguably subject to § 7 or § 8 of the Act,6 the States as well as the federal courts must defer to the exclusive competence of the National Labor Relations Board if the danger of state interference with national policy is to be averted." 359 U.S. at 245, 79 S.Ct. 773. This principle arises from recognition of Congress's intent as embodied in the NLRA.
Congress did not merely lay down a substantive rule of law to be enforced by any tribunal competent to apply law generally to the parties. It went on to confide primary interpretation and application of its rules to a specific and specially constituted tribunal and prescribed a particular procedure for investigation, complaint and notice, and hearing and decision, including judicial relief pending a final administrative order. Congress evidently considered that centralized administration of specially designed procedures was necessary to obtain uniform application of its substantive rules and to avoid these diversities and conflicts likely to result from a variety of local procedures and attitudes towards labor controversies. ... A multiplicity of tribunals and a diversity of procedures are quite as apt to produce incompatible or conflicting adjudications as are different rules of substantive law.
Id. at 242-43, 79 S.Ct. 773 (quoting Garner v. Teamsters Local 776, 346 U.S. 485, 490-91, 74 S.Ct. 161, 98 L.Ed. 228 (1953)). Despite the general rule of preemption, the Supreme Court recognized "where the regulated conduct touched interests so deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility ... in the absence of compelling congressional direction," the state cause of action was not preempted. Id. at 244, 79 S.Ct. 773.
In Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, Local 114, 383 U.S. 53, 86 S.Ct. 657, 15 L.Ed.2d 582 (1966), the Supreme Court applied this anticipated exception. The Court stated that, although the NLRA "tolerates intemperate, abusive and inaccurate statements made by the union during attempts to organize employees," the NLRA does not give "either party license to injure the other intentionally by circulating defamatory or insulting material known to be false."7 Id. at 61, 86 S.Ct. 657. Instead, a suit for "libel issued with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard" of its truth is a merely peripheral concern of the LMRA. Id. at 61. An "`overriding state interest' in protecting its residents from malicious libels" justifies excepting defamation actions arising in labor disputes from Garmon preemption. Id.
Finally, the Supreme Court noted "there was little risk that the state cause of action would interfere with the effective administration of national labor policy." Farmer v. United Bhd. of Carpenters, Local 25, 430 U.S. 290, 298, 97 S.Ct. 1056, 51 L.Ed.2d 338 (1977) (reviewing the Linn ). The state defamation action would not include necessary elements of an unfair labor practice claim before the National Labor Relations Board — that the statements were misleading or...
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