National Ass'n of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO v. U.S. Postal Service

• Decision Date: 08 December 1978
• Docket Number: A,AFL-CI,No. 77-1442,77-1442
• Citation: 590 F.2d 1171,192 U.S.App.D.C. 55
• Parties: 100 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2008, 192 U.S.App.D.C. 55 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS,ppellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 1171

590 F.2d 1171

100 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2008, 192 U.S.App.D.C. 55

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS, AFL-CIO, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.

No. 77-1442.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued April 5, 1978.

Decided Dec. 8, 1978.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (D.C. Civil 76-0788).

Mozart G. Ratner, Washington, D. C., with whom Daniel B. Edelman, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellant.

Stephen E. Alpern, Atty., U. S. Postal Service, Washington, D. C., with whom Earl J. Silbert, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry, and William D. Pease, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before LUMBARD, ^* Senior Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and McGOWAN and MacKINNON, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the court filed by MacKINNON, Circuit Judge.

MacKINNON, Circuit Judge:

The issue presented by this case is narrow whether the district court erred when it refused to assess attorneys' fees against the Postal Service on the facts of this case.

I

On April 17, 1975, Robert T. Williams, a postal employee in the Newark, Ohio, Post Office, was arrested and charged with "Theft of Mail by a Postal Employee." As a result, the Postal Service suspended Williams without pay effective April 22, 1975. This suspension was issued pursuant to Article XVI of the collective bargaining agreement between the National Association of Letter Carriers (the "Union") and the Postal Service. Appellant's App. (hereafter "App.") at 14. Pursuant to Article XV of that agreement, App. 9-13, the Union submitted a grievance on Williams' behalf challenging the suspension. While that grievance was pending, a grand jury issued on June 3, 1975 a four-count indictment against Williams for mail theft. On September 9, 1975, Williams was acquitted by a jury of all charges. The Postal Service did not terminate the suspension, but instead issued on September 26, 1975 a letter to Williams proposing to remove him from the Postal Service for unauthorized removal of mail. On October 8, 1975, Williams was removed from the Postal Service, effective October 28, 1975.

The Union filed another grievance, this time challenging Williams' discharge. The Union and Postal Service agreed to consolidate the removal grievance and the suspension grievance for arbitration. A hearing on both grievances was held on November 17, 1975, and the arbitrator issued his award on March 19, 1976, finding that "there was not just cause to suspend and/or remove Robert Williams from the Postal Service." As a remedy, the award concluded:

He (Williams) is reinstated with full seniority and other contractual benefits and shall be made whole by payment of his regular wages lost as a result of his improper suspension and removal, said payment to be made without delay.

App. 26.

On March 25, the Postal Service requested clarification of the arbitrator's award with respect to the length of the period of "improper suspension," that is, whether the suspension was improper from the date of the original indefinite suspension (April 22, 1975), or from the date of acquittal (September 9, 1975), or from the date of conversion of the suspension to discharge (October 28, 1975). App. 86. Appellant opposed the request for clarification, arguing that the award was already clear, App. 87, and the record does not show the issuance of any clarifying statement by the arbitrator.

On May 7, 1976, the Union brought an action in the district court to compel enforcement of the award in accord with its understanding of the terms. It was the Union's position that the period of improper suspension commenced on the date of the initial suspension of Williams. The Postal Service, however, contended that the period commenced on the date of Williams' acquittal on the criminal charges brought against him and on which his suspension had been based. Prior to that time, the Service argued, it had reasonable cause to believe, based on the indictment, that Williams was guilty of a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment could be imposed. The Postal Service, though disagreeing with the award even as it interpreted it, reinstated Williams as an employee and began to compute the back pay from the date of acquittal to the date of reinstatement.

In the action in the district court, the judge on February 24, 1977 granted summary judgment to the Union. The court said that the language of the award was "perfectly clear," App. 120, and that the arbitrator meant the suspension itself was "improper," and that the Postal Service was liable for back pay to the date of the original suspension. App. 121. However, the court said it could "perceive of no basis . . . for awarding attorney's fees or exemplary damages to plaintiff." Id. The Union sought reconsideration of that portion of the district court's judgment. The court denied the Union's motion, stating that "(c)ontrary to plaintiff's contentions, the court did not regard as 'frivolous' defendant's position with respect to the meaning of the arbitration award involved in this case." App. 152. The court also gave an independent ground for denying the assessment of attorneys' fees, noting the lack of "grounds for an award of attorneys' fees against the United States Postal Service" in the Postal Reorganization Act. The court also cited Nolan v. Woodruff, 68 F.R.D. 660 (D.D.C.1975), which found the doctrine of sovereign immunity applicable to the Postal Service.

In this court, the Union seeks reversal of that portion of the district court's judgment denying its request for attorneys' fees.

II

The Supreme Court has, recently and emphatically, reaffirmed the American tradition that, in the absence of authorizing statute or contractual commitment, a successful litigant is not entitled to attorneys' fees. Alyeska Pipeline Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). Cf. Christianburg Garment Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 434 U.S. 412, 98 S.Ct. 694, 54 L.Ed.2d 648 (1978). In Alyeska, the Court recognized that the general rule is subject to certain narrow exceptions which devolve from the historic power of equity. Thus, a court may

permit the trustee of a fund or property, or a party preserving or recovering a fund for the benefit of others in addition to himself, to recover his costs, including his attorneys' fees, from the fund or property itself or directly from the other parties enjoying the benefit.

421 U.S. at 257, 95 S.Ct. at 1621. Also, attorneys' fees may be assessed "for the 'willful disobedience of a court order . . . as part of the fine to be levied on the defendant(,)' (citations omitted); or when the losing party has 'acted in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons . . . .' (citations omitted)." Id., at 258-59, 95 S.Ct. at 1622.

Appellant's action in the district court was brought under section 1208(b) of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, 39 U.S.C. § 1208(b). ¹ Appellant correctly notes that this statute is the analogue of section 301(a) of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947. ² With regard to section 301, appellant cites to us the long line of cases recognizing the authority conferred by the statute on the federal courts to enforce collective bargaining promises to arbitrate and emphasizing the federal labor law policy favoring final and binding arbitration of labor disputes. Textile Workers Union v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972 (1957); United Steelworkers of America v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U.S. 564, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960); United Steelworkers of America v. Warrior & Gulf Nav. Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960); United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Co., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960); Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks Union Local 770, 398 U.S. 235, 90 S.Ct. 1583, 26 L.Ed.2d 199 (1970). From this, appellant argues that award of attorneys' fees to discourage unjustified non-compliance with final binding arbitration awards is a necessary consequence of Congress' finality policy. Accordingly, appellant argues that awarding attorneys' fees is also necessary in enforcing the policies which underlie section 1208(b) of the Postal Reorganization Act, since that statute is based upon the provision in the federal private labor law statutes from which the finality policy devolves.

Appellant's argument misconceives in important respects the circumstances under which courts may award attorneys' fees. Given the traditional American rule recognized and reaffirmed in Alyeska that in the absence of legislation or contract providing otherwise litigants must pay their own attorneys' fees, the focus of the proper analysis must be on whether the circumstances of the particular case fall within one of the recognized exceptions statutory, contractual, or equitable to the rule where the award of fees is proper. See Cuneo v. Rumsfeld, 180 U.S.App.D.C. 184, 187, 553 F.2d 1360, 1363 (1977); National Council of Community Mental Health Centers v. Mathews, 178 U.S.App.D.C. 237, 546 F.2d 1003 (1976), Cert. denied, Wagshal v. Califano, 431 U.S. 954, 97 S.Ct. 2674, 53 L.Ed.2d 270 (1977).

A.

Lacking a contractual basis for the assessment of attorneys' fees against the Postal Service, the principal argument of appellant is that section 1208(b) is a statutory authorization for the assessment of fees. Appellant does not deny that the clear language of the statute does not authorize in explicit, express terms the award of attorneys' fees to the successful litigant in an action brought under the statute. Rather, appellant contends that awards are permissible by virtue of a "judicial gloss" rendered on section 301(a), which by analogy applies to section 1208(b).

The decision in Alyeska guides us here. The Court stated:

What Congress has done . . .,...