Shopping Cart, Inc. v. Amalgamated Food Emp. Local 196, Civ. A. No. 72-443.

• Decision Date: 31 October 1972
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 72-443.
• Citation: 350 F. Supp. 1221
• Parties: SHOPPING CART, INC. v. AMALGAMATED FOOD EMPLOYEES LOCAL 196.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

350 F. Supp. 1221

SHOPPING CART, INC. v. AMALGAMATED FOOD EMPLOYEES LOCAL 196.

Civ. A. No. 72-443.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

October 31, 1972.

Michael H. Egnal, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.

Richard H. Markowitz, Philadelphia, Pa., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HUYETT, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Shopping Cart, Inc., filed the present action seeking to vacate the award of an arbitrator and to remand the controversy for a hearing denovo.¹ It claims that the refusal of the arbitrator to hear testimony of a handwriting expert one week after the hearing denied it a full and fair hearing. Both sides have moved for summary judgment.

The present case arose out of a dispute between Shopping Cart and defendant, Amalgamated Food Employees Local 196, concerning the dismissal of an employee, Dorothy Malampy, a member of defendant union. The employee was dismissed for falsifying reports and stealing cash in her capacity as head cashier. The union invoked the grievance procedure of the collective bargaining agreement which provides for arbitration when there is a dispute over the justification for discharge of an employee.

The company and the union concurred in the selection of Professor Alexander H. Frey of the University of Pennsylvania Law School as arbitrator in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement. A hearing was held on December 29, 1971, at which time both sides presented testimony. One week after the hearing, on January 6, 1972, counsel for Shopping Cart, in a letter to the arbitrator, requested that the hearing be reopened to hear the testimony of a handwriting expert. There were several subsequent letters with similar requests by counsel for Shopping Cart. Professor Frey refused to hear such testimony on the grounds that the hearing had provided ample opportunity for each side to present a case. On February 15, 1972, the arbitrator made an award in favor of the union, ordering that plaintiff reinstate the employee without loss of seniority and with full back pay.

The present action seeks a review of the arbitrator's refusal to hear testimony of a handwriting expert. The only issue is whether the refusal to hear such evidence, offered after the hearing was held, was such an abuse of the arbitration procedure as to require a court to compel the reopening of arbitration.

The collective bargaining agreement in the present case provides for arbitration in which the decision of the arbitrator will be final and binding. Arbitration in labor matters is a very important element in national labor policy. See Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerk's Local 770, 398 U.S. 235, 90 S.Ct. 1583, 26 L.Ed.2d 199 (1970); Avco Corp. v. Local Union No. 787, United Automobile Workers of America, 459 F.2d 968 (3 Cir. 1972). A court's review of labor arbitration proceedings is very limited in scope. It is clear that a reviewing court is not to weigh the merits of the claim or to search for errors of law, but should only determine whether the award was arbitrary or whether the arbitrator exceeded his authority. Local 234, Transp. Workers Union v. Philadelphia Transp. Co., 283 F.Supp. 597 (E.D.Pa. 1968). The reviewing court should consider whether the arbitrator acted in such a manner as to deprive the appealing party of a fair hearing. Harvey Aluminum, Inc. v. United Steel-workers, 263 F.Supp. 488 (C.D.Cal. 1967).

Plaintiff contends that the United States Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., governs the present action. Specifically, the employer claims that vacation of the award is proper because the arbitrator violated 9 U.S.C. § 10(c) when he refused "to hear evidence pertinent and material to the controversy."² The use of this standard to review labor arbitration is proper. Local 234, Transp. Workers Union v. Philadelphia Transp. Co., supra; Harvey Aluminum, Inc. v. United Steelworkers, supra.

Defendant union, however, contends that the decision of the arbitrator not to reopen the hearing is merely procedural. It claims that such questions are not subject to court review under John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Livingston, 376 U.S. 543, 84 S.Ct. 909, 11 L.Ed.2d 898 (1964). In Wiley the Court held that it was for the arbitrator alone to decide whether the failure of the union to follow the grievance procedure step-by-step deprived the arbitrator of power to hear the grievance. Such a "procedural" matter is very different from a claim that the plaintiff was denied a fair hearing because of the arbitrator's refusal to hear material testimony. See Local 234, Transp. Workers Union v. Philadelphia Transp. Co., supra, 283 F. Supp. at 600. To label this claim "procedural" and dismiss it without more consideration would be to rely on form alone and not to focus on the interests involved.

Plaintiff contends that it was denied a fair hearing because of the refusal of the arbitrator to reopen the hearing and receive the testimony of a handwriting expert. There is no contention that plaintiff was denied the opportunity to present any evidence or testimony at the hearing on December 29, 1971 as was done in Harvey Aluminum, Inc. v. United Steelworkers of America, supra. The transcript of the hearing indicates that Shopping Cart closed its case after presenting seven witnesses, and then recalled one in rebuttal, but that it never indicated that it desired to put on further evidence at a later...