Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, Internat'l

• Decision Date: 30 March 1967
• Docket Number: No. 18523.,18523.
• Citation: 373 F.2d 136
• Parties: NORTHWEST AIRLINES, INC., Appellant, v. AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL, David G. Rall and R. E. Lee, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

373 F.2d 136 (1967)

NORTHWEST AIRLINES, INC., Appellant, v. AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL, David G. Rall and R. E. Lee, Appellees.

No. 18523.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

February 23, 1967.

Rehearing Denied March 30, 1967.

Henry Halladay, of Dorsey, Owen, Marquart, Windhorst & West, Minneapolis, Minn., John M. Mason, Minneapolis, Minn., on the brief, for appellant.

Leonard E. Lindquist, of Lindquist, Magnuson & Glennon, Minneapolis, Minn., Richard E. Wetherall and William B. Stukas, Minneapolis, Minn., on the brief, for appellees.

Before VAN OOSTERHOUT, BLACKMUN and MEHAFFY, Circuit Judges.

VAN OOSTERHOUT, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal by respondent Northwest Airlines, Inc., (NWA), from order entered on July 20, 1966, granting partial summary judgment to petitioners, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), David G. Rall and R. E. Lee. The material portions of said order read:

"1. That the respondent, Northwest Airlines, Inc., is not entitled to a de novo review of the award of the System Board of Adjustment involving the individual petitioners, David G. Rall and R. E. Lee, with respect to any of the issues alleged in respondent\'s answer to the petition herein.

"2. That the award of the System Board of Adjustment on the records reviewed by the Court in the case of the individual petitioners named herein was not so arbitrary and capricious as to be wholly baseless and completely without reason, and therefore that defense is not sustained.

"3. That respondent shall reinstate petitioners to its employ in accordance with Award Nos. 5562 and 5563 of the System Board of Adjustment entered on January 8, 1965, subject, however, to the right of the respondent to limit, discharge or terminate petitioners\' employment based upon events occurring or conditions existing after their discharge by the respondent, and the Court reserves jurisdiction to determine whether the events occurring or conditions existing after the discharge of these petitioners affect their right of reinstatement or limit the amount of back pay due them under the System Board\'s orders, and reserves jurisdiction as to the question of attorneys\' fees to be allowed petitioners as provided in Section 153 First (p) of the Railway Labor Act.

"4. Judgment shall be entered accordingly. Exceptions are reserved."

The District Court made a 28 U.S.C.A. § 1292(b) determination that the order denying NWA a de novo review of the System Board of Adjustment award involves a controlling question of law about which there is a substantial difference of opinion and that an immediate appeal will materially advance the ultimate determination of this litigation; that a lengthy trial on questions as to matters occurring subsequent to the discharge may be avoided in the event the trial court has erred in its determination of the issues relating to de novo review and the issue as to whether the determination of the System Board was arbitrary or capricious.

This court by order of August 15, 1966, authorized such interlocutory appeal, and the appeal has been timely taken.

NWA in its brief makes no contention that the court committed error in its determination that the award is not arbitrary or capricious. By reply brief, NWA urges such issue is not before us. The notice of appeal is taken from the July 20, 1966, order which includes resolution of this issue. We hold such issue is raised by the appeal and that NWA has failed to demonstrate that the court erred in item two of its order, supra.

The basic issue presented by this appeal is whether the trial court erred in denying NWA a de novo trial — more particularly, a right to present oral testimony on the validity of the System Board of Adjustment award determining Rall and Lee are entitled to reinstatement. The validity of the trial court's decision turns upon the finality to be accorded the Board's determination on the reinstatement issue. For reasons hereinafter set forth, we hold that the trial court correctly determined that the portion of the award adjudicating that Rall and Lee were entitled to reinstatement is final and conclusive and that the court is without power to redetermine such issue.

The rather extensive record facts bearing upon the reasons for the discharge and the basis for the reinstatement have no direct bearing upon the issue here presented and hence the facts will be stated summarily. First Pilot Rall was permanently discharged for a violation of a NWA rule prohibiting a pilot from using intoxicants within twenty-four hours of the commencement of a flight. Lee was discharged for acting as chief pilot on a flight with Rall knowing the latter had an apparent physical deficiency caused by the use of intoxicants. Rall and Lee exhausted their grievance procedure provided by the contract existing between ALPA, the authorized bargaining agent for the pilots, and NWA.

On January 11, 1952, in conformity to and in compliance with 45 U.S.C.A. § 184, ALPA and NWA entered into an agreement, still in force, creating the Northwest Airlines Pilots' System Board of Adjustment to decide minor disputes arising under the terms of the working agreement between ALPA and NWA. The agreement provides that a decision can be made by a majority of the Board members and that the Board's decision on matters properly referable to it "shall be final and binding upon the parties." It is undisputed that the System Board which heard these cases was constituted in the manner provided by the agreement and authorized by statute and that after an evidentiary hearing, the Board majority by a written final order directed reinstatement of Rall as of November 1, 1964 and Lee as of May 1, 1964.

The controversy submitted to the Board falls in the minor dispute category over which the Board was given jurisdiction.

NWA having failed to comply with the award, the petitioners commenced this action in the District Court for the enforcement thereof on February 10, 1965. The District Court by memorandum opinion and order filed August 6, 1965, denied ALPA's motion for partial summary judgment based upon the same grounds as urged in the motion, the sustaining of which gives rise to the present appeal.

After the decision of the Supreme Court in Gunther v. San Diego & Arizona Eastern R. Co., 382 U.S. 257, 86 S.Ct. 368, 15 L.Ed.2d 308, decided December 8, 1965, respondent again filed its motion for partial summary judgment, which motion was sustained by the court order herein appealed from.

The trial court, in a very well-considered unreported opinion filed March 7, 1966, with which we fully agree, states:

"However, it is now perfectly clear, * * * that in Gunther the Court summarily has swept aside all former uncertainty as to the intent of Congress in the enactment of Section 153 of the Railway Labor Act and particularly as to Sections 153 First (m) and 153 First (p). * * * Gunther has limited the trial de novo to the back pay due the employee under the Board\'s award and any other issue decided by the Board is to be accepted by the District Court. In other words, the court must accept the findings of the Board and is empowered to enforce them by mandamus or otherwise. The only fact issue for the court to determine is the amount of the money award based on the Board\'s findings and such additional evidence as may bear upon the amount."

Gunther, an engineer, was discharged for physical disability determined on the basis of a report of the railway's physician. The NRAB, to whom the dispute was submitted after the exhaustion of all remedies at the company level, after a full hearing ordered Gunther reinstated. Gunther applied to the District Court for enforcement. Enforcement was denied. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, stating inter alia:

"Section 3 First (m) provides that Adjustment Board awards `shall be final and binding upon both parties to the dispute, except insofar as they shall contain a money award.\' The award of the Board in this case, based on the central finding that petitioner was wrongfully removed from service is twofold, consisting both of an order of reinstatement and the money award for lost earnings. Thus there arises the question of whether the District Court may open up the Board\'s finding on the merits that the railroad wrongfully removed petitioner from his job merely because one part of the Board\'s order contained a money award. We hold it cannot. This Court time and again has emphasized and re-emphasized that Congress intended minor grievances of railroad workers to be decided finally by the Railroad Adjustment Board. * * *

"The Railway Labor Act as construed in the foregoing and other opinions of this Court does not allow a federal district court to review an Adjustment Board\'s determination of the merits of a grievance merely because a part of the Board\'s award, growing from its determination on the merits, is a money award. The basic grievance here — that is, the complaint that petitioner has been wrongfully removed from active service as an engineer because of health — has been finally, completely, and irrevocably settled by the Adjustment Board\'s decision. Consequently, the merits of the wrongful removal issue as decided by the Adjustment Board must be accepted by the District Court." 382 U.S. 257, 263-264, 86 S.Ct. 368, 371.

We completely agree with the trial court's view that the Gunther opinion as a whole, and the above quoted language in particular, compels a holding in this case that the System Adjustment Board's determination that Rall and Lee are entitled to reinstatement is final, conclusive and binding and must be accepted by the courts.

It is true as argued by NWA that many Courts of Appeal and District Court cases prior to Gunther have held otherwise. Such cases were cited and relied upon by the trial court in its memorandum opinion of August 6, 1965. The validity of such opinions has been struck down by Gunther. Post-Gunther cases...