Sanders v. Air Line Pilots Association, International

• Citation: 473 F.2d 244
• Decision Date: 04 December 1972
• Docket Number: Docket 72-1878.,No. 296,296
• Parties: Leland SANDERS, on behalf of himself and all other flight engineers in the service of Slick Airways, Inc., as of September 5, 1961, similarly situated, Petitioner-Appellant, v. AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL, and Airlift International, Inc., Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

473 F.2d 244 (1972)

Leland SANDERS, on behalf of himself and all other flight engineers in the service of Slick Airways, Inc., as of September 5, 1961, similarly situated, Petitioner-Appellant, v. AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL, and Airlift International, Inc., Respondents-Appellees.

No. 296, Docket 72-1878.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued September 28, 1972.

Decided December 4, 1972.

Jonathan S. Liebowitz, New York City, for petitioner-appellant.

Stephen B. Moldof, New York City (Edward R. Curtin, and Cohen, Weiss & Simon, New York City, on the brief), for respondent-appellee Air Line Pilots Association, International.

James B. Rhoads, Atlanta, Ga. (Fisher & Phillips, Atlanta, Ga., on the brief), for respondent-appellee Airlift International, Inc.

Before HAYS, OAKES and TIMBERS, Circuit Judges.

TIMBERS, Circuit Judge:

This appeal arises from the denial of a motion for a preliminary injunction sought by appellant on behalf of a group of senior employees in an action involving a labor dispute with both their employer and formal bargaining representative.

After a hearing in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, John M. Cannella, District Judge, an order was entered (1) denying appellant's motion for a preliminary injunction which sought to enjoin appellee Air Line Pilots Association, International, from breaching its statutory duty of fair representation, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (1970), and appellee Airlift International, Inc. from effecting changes in appellant's seniority rights; and (2) modifying an earlier order which had stayed processing of a related grievance.

Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 65(d) and the traditional requirements for determining whether a preliminary injunction should issue, we affirm that portion of the order relating to appellant's motion, and modify that part relating to the stay of the collateral grievance.

I. Background Facts

In 1961, an agreement was entered into between Slick Airways, Inc. (Slick), 15 of its senior flight engineers (the Grandfathers), and the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), the latter being the recognized representative of all of Slick's flight employees. Included in the agreement was a provision that the Grandfathers (the class represented by appellant here) would have job rights over all other Slick employees. To handle disputes, a Joint Grievance Board was established, consisting of one representative each of Slick, ALPA, and the Grandfathers. Binding arbitration was to follow any non-unanimous decision of the Board.

In 1966, Slick merged with Airlift International, Inc. (Airlift). Subsequent events indicated that both Airlift and ALPA (the representative of Airlift's, as well as Slick's, flight employees) interpreted the 1961 agreement in light of the merger as giving the Grandfathers job rights vis-a-vis former Slick employees only, with seniority to be measured from the date of the merger rather than the date of employment by Slick. Beginning in 1971, the Grandfathers sought to bring this matter before the Joint Grievance Board in accordance with the 1961 agreement. Both ALPA and Airlift refused, contending that the merger had extinguished the Joint Grievance Board and had established in its place the System Board of Adjustment. This latter body had no separate Grandfather representation. Upon the continuing refusal of ALPA to appoint a representative to the Joint Grievance Board (Airlift eventually having done so), the Grandfathers served a demand for arbitration under New York law. N.Y.Civ.Prac.Law § 7503 (McKinney 1963). A petition to compel arbitration was filed in the state court on June 28, 1971. The case subsequently was removed to the Southern District of New York.

In the ensuing months, a new "base bid award" was made (under which all available jobs were re-assigned on a seniority preference basis), despite an alleged agreement between ALPA and the Grandfathers to abstain from such a procedure pending arbitration of the Grandfathers' grievance. The base bid award purportedly resulted in a significant deterioration of the Grandfathers' rights and relative position.

The Grandfathers moved in the district court for a preliminary injunction enjoining (1) the processing by appellees of a certain related grievance,¹ (2) the breach by ALPA of its duty of fair representation under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (1970), and (3) the effecting by Airlift of changes in the Grandfathers' seniority rights. On June 22, 1972, the district court entered an order granting a stay of the processing of the related grievance and denying the remainder of the motion. The court on July 18, 1972 modified the provision of its order which stayed the processing of the related grievance to a "stay until such time as the judge who is assigned the case passes on it."

II.

Specificity Requirement of Rule 65(d)

Fed.R.Civ.P. 65(d) provides that "every order granting an injunction . . . shall be specific in terms and shall describe in reasonable detail . . . the act or acts sought to be restrained . . . ." The preliminary injunction sought by appellant, if granted, would enjoin ALPA from breaching its duty of fair representation and Airlift from effecting changes in the seniority rights of appellant. ALPA and Airlift contend that such provisions of the injunctive order sought would contravene Rule 65(d). We agree.

We turn first to the effect of the proposed preliminary injunction upon ALPA. ALPA's duty of fair representation arises under the Railway Labor Act of 1934, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (1970), made applicable to air carriers by 45 U.S.C. § 181 (1970). Conclusively within that duty is the requirement that various groups within a bargaining unit be treated equally; "it is not proper for a bargaining agent in representing all of the employees to draw distinctions among them which are based upon their political power within the union." Ferro v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 296 F.2d 847, 851 (2 Cir. 1961). The question is thus presented whether this established duty would make it sufficiently clear to ALPA exactly what would be required of it should the preliminary injunction issue.

The normal standard of specificity is that the party enjoined must be able to ascertain from the four corners of the order precisely what acts are forbidden. Brumby Metals, Inc. v. Bargen, 275 F.2d 46, 49 (7 Cir. 1960). See also International Longshoremen's Assoc., Local 1291 v. Philadelphia Marine Trade Assoc., 389 U.S. 64 (1967). As the Supreme Court noted in the International Longshoremen's case, Rule 65(d) reflects Congress' concern with the dangers inherent in the threat of a contempt citation for violation of an order so vague that an enjoined party may unwittingly and unintentionally transcend its bounds. 389 U.S. at 76. The relief requested here creates precisely that danger. While the Railway Labor Act and the cases under it have provided certain general guidelines within the rubric "duty of fair representation", e. g., Steele v. Louisville & N. R.R., 323 U.S. 192 (1944); Ferro v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., supra, the standard in any particular case necessarily must embrace the "`wide range of reasonableness that must be allowed a statutory bargaining representative in serving the unit it represents, subject always to complete good faith and honesty of purpose in the exercise of its discretion'". Gainey v. Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, 275 F.Supp. 292, 305 (E.D.Pa.1967), aff'd, 406 F.2d 744 (3 Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 998 (1969), quoting Ford Motor Co. v. Huffman, 345 U.S. 330, 338 (1953).

Our reading of the record in the instant case discloses no indication of lack of good faith or honesty of purpose on the part of ALPA. Rather, the primary issue for trial on the merits relates to a bona fide dispute over two conflicting interpretations of an ambiguous contractual term. ALPA has within its membership employees who stand to gain or lose from either interpretation. In such a case, to say that the adoption by ALPA of one of these positions as legally correct would create a breach of duty enjoinable prior to trial, would be to render a preliminary injunction, couched in terms of duty of fair representation, so hopelessly elusive as to violate Rule 65(d). The order necessarily would contain "only an abstract conclusion of law, not an operative command capable of `enforcement'". International Longshoremen's Assoc., Local 1291 v. Philadelphia Marine Trade Assoc., supra, 389 U.S. at 74. The district court refused to issue such an order. We affirm that ruling.

The effect of the proposed preliminary injunction upon Airlift would be to prohibit the making of any changes affecting the seniority rights of the Grandfathers. This proposal falls even more clearly within the interdiction against overly-broad injunctions indicated in International Longshoremen's, supra. Here, there is a clear failure to describe in reasonable detail the "act or acts sought to be restrained". Rule 65(d). The provision in question, moreover, would be "so broad as to place the entire conduct of Airlift's business under the jeopardy of punishment for contempt for violating" the injunction. Russell C. House Transfer & Storage Co. v. United States, 189 F.2d 349, 351 (5 Cir. 1951). While Airlift's characterization of the proposed injunction as one that "would inevitably paralyze Airlift" may be something of an overstatement, we do see a danger that Airlift would be exposed to contempt prosecution for the performance of acts not properly within the scope of the injunction. Cf. Williams v. United States, 402 F.2d 47, 48-49 (10 Cir. 1967). Any number of normal business actions, not even remotely concerned with the Grandfathers' seniority rights and having only a limited and tangential effect thereon, might be in violation of the order. The district court refused to issue such an order. We affirm that ruling.

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