Molina v. Union Independiente Autentica De La Aaa, Civil No. 05-2356 (FAB).

• Decision Date: 08 May 2008
• Docket Number: Civil No. 05-2356 (FAB).
• Parties: Jose Osvaldo MOLINA, Plaintiff, v. UNION INDEPENDIENTE AUTENTICA DE LA AAA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

555 F.Supp.2d 284

Jose Osvaldo MOLINA, Plaintiff, v. UNION INDEPENDIENTE AUTENTICA DE LA AAA, et al., Defendants.

Civil No. 05-2356 (FAB).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

May 8, 2008.

Godwin Aldarondo-Girald, Aldarondo Girald Law Office, San Juan, PR, for Plaintiff.

Harry Anduze-Montano, Jose A. Morales-Boscio, Harry Anduze Montano Law Office, Angel L. Tapia-Flores, Tapia & Aviles Law Office, Guillermo J. Ramos-Luina, San Juan, PR, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

BESOSA, District Judge.

On December 30, 2005, plaintiff Jose Osvaldo Molina filed a complaint against defendants Union Independiente Autentica ("Union"), Jesus M. Diaz Allende, Hector Rene Lugo, Jose Urbina, Jose Morales, Pedro Irene Maymi, Juan Garcia, Wilfredo Medina, and Andres Carrasquillo, in their official and personal capacities. (Docket No. 1) The complaint alleges violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962 ("RICO"); the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, 5 U.S.C. § 8905a ("COBRA"); the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. ("ERISA"); the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C. § 401 et seq. ("LMRDA"); and the Puerto Rico General Tort Statute, Article 1802 of the Civil Code, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 31 § 5141. Id. Defendants Hector Rene Lugo, Jorge Urbina, Jose Morales, Pedro Irene Maymi, Juan Garcia, Wilfredo Medina, and Andres Carrasquillo ("co-defendants") filed a motion to dismiss the complaint (Docket No. 33) and a motion to submit extrinsic documents in support of motion to dismiss (Docket No. 34)

The United States Magistrate Judge issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that the defendants' motion to dismiss be granted in part and denied in part and that the defendants' motion to submit extrinsic documents be granted only as to the Union's constitution and denied as to the other documents. (Docket No. 52) On May 26, 2007, plaintiff submitted several objections to the Report and Recommendation. (Docket No. 55)

After reviewing plaintiffs objections, the Court ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation.¹

I. Standard for Reviewing a Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation

A district court may refer pending dispositive motions to a Magistrate Judge for a report and recommendation. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b); Loc.Civ.Rule 72(a). Any party adversely affected by the report and recommendation may file written objections within ten days of being served with the Magistrate Judge's report. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). A party that files a timely objection is entitled to a de novo determination of "those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which specific objection is made." Sylva v. Culebra Dive Shop, 389 F.Supp.2d 189, 191-92 (D.P.R.2005) (quoting United States v. Raddatz, 447 U.S. 667, 673, 100 S.Ct. 2406, 65 L.Ed.2d 424 (1980)). Failure to comply with this rule precludes further review. See Davet v. Maccarone, 973 F.2d 22, 30-31 (1st Cir. 1992). In conducting its review, the Court is free to "accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the Magistrate Judge." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Templeman v. Chris Craft Corp., 770 F.2d 245, 247 (1st Cir.1985); Alamo Rodriguez v. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 286 F.Supp.2d 144, 146 (D.P.R.2003). Furthermore, the Court may accept those parts of the report and recommendation to which the parties do not object. See Hernandez-Mejias v. General Elec., 428 F.Supp.2d 4, 6 (D.P.R.2005) (quoting Lacedra v. Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, 334 F.Supp.2d 114, 125-126 (D.R.I. 2004)).

II. Plaintiffs Objections to the R & R

A. Cause of action under the LMRDA

The Magistrate Judge concluded that the complaint fails to state a cause of action under the LMRDA because it includes no allegation that the Union is a "labor organization" under the statute.

Although such a finding was sufficient to dismiss plaintiffs claims, the Magistrate Judge further reviewed the Union's constitution to determine whether PRASA constitutes a "political subdivision of Puerto Rico within the meaning of LMRDA". He correctly reasoned that "if that question is answered in the negative then the Union would be a "labor organization," saving plaintiffs LMRDA cause of action."

Because the LMRDA does not define the term political subdivision, and does not furnish any clue as to what a "political subdivision of a state" is, the Magistrate Judge followed the reasoning in Hawaii Gov't Employees Ass'n v. Martoche, 915 F.2d 718 (D.C.Cir.1990). In Martoche, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the question whether a non-profit educational corporation was a "political subdivision" of the State of Hawaii within the meaning of LMRDA. After finding no helpful legislative history, the court adopted a seven-factor test utilized in an interpretive manual prepared by the Secretary of Labor, concluding that Congress implicitly left a gap in the statute for the agency to fill. Id., at p. 721, quoting Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. N.R.D.C., 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984).²

After conducting the analysis that plaintiff now challenges, the Magistrate Judge held that PRASA constitutes a "political subdivision" of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico within the meaning of the LMRDA, thus precluding the possibility that the Union (whose members are employees of PRASA) could be found to be a "labor organization" within the meaning of the statute.³ (Docket No. 52, pp. 12-19)

Plaintiff now challenges this conclusion. Without helpful analysis, plaintiff baldly asserts that "a comparison of the factors in Martoche, demonstrate [sic] that they are very similar to the factors established by the First Circuit in Metcalf.⁴ But the First Circuit's analysis focuses on all the factors, weighing them in a different manner than the District of Columbia Circuit." (Docket No. 55, pp. 3)⁵

After a careful evaluation of plaintiffs arguments, it is clear that Metcalf & Eddy is not controlling here. In Metcalf & Eddy, court of appeals held that PRASA is not an arm of the state for purposes of the Eleventh Amendment immunity. As the Magistrate Judge correctly reasoned, there is nothing incongruous about finding that PRASA is a political subdivision under the LMRDA but not an arm of the state for Eleventh Amendment purposes, because "... the test for determining whether an entity is an arm of the state for Eleventh Amendment purposes differs significantly from the test for determining whether an entity is a political subdivision under LMRDA." (Docket No. 52, p. 19, n. 10) The Magistrate Judge's conclusion is also consistent with the well-established principle that a court may not substitute its own construction of the statutory provision for an agency's reasonable interpretation when Congress implicitly delegates authority to the agency to elucidate a specific statutory provision. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. N.R.D.C., 467 U.S. at 843, 104 S.Ct. 2778. See also, Comite Pro Rescate De La Salud v. PRASA 888 F.2d 180, 187 (1st Cir.1989) and Mayburg v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 740 F.2d 100, 106 (1st Cir.1984) ("[I]f Congress is silent, courts may still infer from the particular statutory circumstances an implicit congressional instruction about the degree of respect or deference they owe the agency on a question of law.") (emphasis in original). This judicial deference applies to the guidelines that the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards Enforcement has developed and set out in section 030.425 of its LMRDA Interpretive Manual. These are the guidelines to which Martoche deferred in the absence of a clear definition of "political subdivision" in, the LMRDA or in its legislative history: See Martoche, 915 F.2d at 720-22 and London v. Polishook, 189 F.3d 196, 200 (2nd Cir.1999) Plaintiffs vague assertion that the factors in Martoche "are very similar to the factors," without more, in Metcalf is insufficient to persuade the Court to deviate from the Magistrate Judge's well-reasoned conclusion.

Accordingly, this Court ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge's conclusion that PRASA is a political subdivision of Puerto Rico within the meaning of the LMRDA and DISMISSES plaintiffs claims under the LMRDA WITH PREJUDICE.

B. Cause of Action under COBRA

The Magistrate Judge concluded at page 21 of his Report and Recommendation that plaintiffs allegations that he was deprived of his status as an union delegate and that he was threatened with the expulsion from the Union are not "qualifying events" within the meaning of COBRA. The Magistrate Judge refers the Court's attention to DeVoll v. Burdick Painting Inc., 35 F.3d 408 (9th Cir.1994), cert. denied 514 U.S. 1027, 115 S.Ct. 1381, 131 L.Ed.2d 234 (1995). In DeVoll, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the trial court had properly entered summary judgment for the defendant on the COBRA cause of action where plaintiffs failed to allege a qualified event adequately. There, the plaintiffs, claimed that termination of their union status qualified them for continuation coverage under COBRA. Id. at 413. Both the trial and appellate courts disagreed, holding that "the [COBRA] provision's plain language does not include a switch from union to nonunion employment;" rather, it refers only the termination of employment for a reason other than the employee's gross negligence. Id. see also Docket No. 52, pp. 20-21.

Plaintiff objects to the Magistrate Judge's recommendation, alleging that "the `de facto' termination of Plaintiffs Union membership, or at least the [sic] `de facto' suspension as a Union Member, clearly constituted `qualifying events' under COBRA." In his opinion, "[t]he equivalent to a termination of employment or to a reduction of hours is the termination of a Union membership and its suspension." (Docket No. 55, p. 6) Plaintiffs attempt to stretch the clear...