Yoho v. Triangle PWC, Inc.
| Decision Date | 10 July 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 16510,16510 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | , 120 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2874, 103 Lab.Cas. P 55,516 Elizabeth A. YOHO v. TRIANGLE PWC, INC., and Local Union 1051. |
1. "Liberality with regard to amended and supplemental pleadings is allowed under the Rules of Civil Procedure." Syl.pt. 6, Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bibbee, 147 W.Va. 786, 131 S.E.2d 745 (1963).
2. An action for wrongful termination under W.Va. Code § 23-5A-1 (1981) is not pre-empted by federal labor law.
3. Ordinarily the courts will not decide on public policy grounds issues which are fairly debatable, but will instead leave them for legislative decision.
4. Merely following the contractual mandate of a collective bargaining agreement is not extreme or outrageous conduct which would give rise to a tort action for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Phillips, Gardill, Hazlett & Kaiser, James C. Gardill, R. Dean Hartley, Wheeling, for appellant.
Bevan, III, Pittsburgh, Pa., for Triangle PWC.
Donald G. Logsdon, Charleston, for IBEW Local Union 1051.
The appellant, Elizabeth A. Yoho, began employment with Triangle PWC, Inc., (Triangle), on December 8, 1980, as a utility laborer. On April 2, 1981, she was assigned the task of temporary filter operator, and was required to manually replenish an acid bath as part of her job. While attempting this task, she fell and spilled two gallons of acid on herself, which resulted in second and third degree burns over thirty-five percent of her body.
By order dated June 1, 1981, the Workers' Compensation Commissioner awarded Elizabeth Yoho temporary total disability benefits, and she has continued to receive the same continuously through the present time. On December 1, 1981, Elizabeth Yoho filed suit in the Circuit Court of Marshall County against Triangle in a Mandolidis 1 action. Although it is not apparent from the record, we note that she received a substantial settlement in that action.
On April 5, 1982, a year after her accident, Elizabeth Yoho's employment with Triangle was terminated pursuant to the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement as a result of her unavailability for work over the preceding twelve-month period.
Elizabeth Yoho filed her original complaint in this action on May 12, 1982, alleging that she was the victim of a retaliatory discharge, that the contractual provision under which she was discharged violated West Virginia public policy, and that Triangle's action in discharging her constituted an intentional infliction of emotional distress. Triangle moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on account of federal pre-emption and failure to state a cause of action. Two years later, but prior to any decision on Triangle's motion, plaintiff moved to amend her complaint. The amended complaint alleged a violation of public policy, a discriminatory discharge in violation of W.Va.Code § 23-5A-1 (1981) and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The circuit court held a hearing on the motion to amend, and soon thereafter entered an order denying the motion to amend and granting the motion to dismiss. Elizabeth Yoho now appeals both rulings to this Court.
We address first whether the trial court's denial of Elizabeth Yoho's motion to amend was proper. In denying the plaintiff's motion, the court stated that: (1) the proposed amendment alleged new causes of action that were not based on newly discovered evidence or information; (2) Triangle would be prejudiced by the proposed amendment; and (3) the new cause of action alleged in the proposed amendment did not meet the requirements of Rule 15(c) for the same to relate back to the original complaint, and, accordingly, the new causes of action would be barred under the statute of limitations. We disagree. Elizabeth Yoho's first complaint alleged a retaliatory discharge in violation of West Virginia common and statutory law, a violation of the public policy of the State of West Virginia, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Her second complaint stated substantially the same causes of action, but eliminated references to the collective bargaining agreement. 2 By doing so, she effectively eliminated her union (Local 1051) as a defendant. The amended complaint also modified the ad damnum clause by asking for greater damages, and deleted her demand for declaratory relief, insurance benefits, and reinstatement to her previous position. The theories of recovery and the facts relied upon remained essentially the same.
Rule 15(a) of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure provides that leave to amend "shall be freely given when justice so requires." This Court has read that provision to allow liberality in the consideration of a party's right to amend a pleading. See syl.pt. 6, Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bibbee, 147 W.Va. 786, 131 S.E.2d 745 (1963). Because there were only minor changes made in the amended complaint in this case, it is difficult to see how the defendants would have been prejudiced by the amendment. We, therefore, hold that the trial court's refusal to grant leave to amend the complaint was an error. Nevertheless, for the reasons which follow, we hold the error to be harmless.
Turning to the substance of the amended complaint, the trial court granted Triangle's motion to dismiss on the grounds that Ms. Yoho's claim was pre-empted by federal labor law as inextricably intertwined with the interpretation of Article VI of the collective bargaining agreement. 3 For the reasons set out below, we find that this was also an error.
In a recent case, the United States Supreme Court summarized the law of federal pre-emption of labor issues as follows: "[W]hen resolution of a state-law claim is substantially dependent upon analysis of the terms of an agreement made between parties in a labor contract, that claim must either be treated as a § 301 claim ... or dismissed as pre-empted by federal labor-contract law." Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, ----, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 1916, 85 L.Ed.2d 206, 221 (1985). The Supreme Court also noted, however, that not all labor disputes are pre-empted by Section 301:
Clearly § 301 does not grant the parties to a collective-bargaining agreement the ability to contract for what is illegal under state law. In extending the pre-emptive effect of § 301 beyond suits for breach of contract, it would be inconsistent with congressional intent under that section to pre-empt state rules that proscribe conduct, or establish rights and obligations, independent of a labor contract.
471 U.S. at ----, 105 S.Ct. at 1912, 85 L.Ed.2d at 216.
In the case before this Court, Elizabeth Yoho's state law claim is not substantially dependent upon analysis of the terms of her collective bargaining agreement and, therefore, falls into that category of cases which Congress did not intend to pre-empt. The parties agree that Triangle's conduct was consistent with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, but disagree on matters of state law.
The distinct and separate nature of a claim arising under a collective bargaining agreement and a tort claim arising from a violation of state public policy led the United States Supreme Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to hold, in Peabody Galion v. Dollar, 666 F.2d 1309 (1982), that an action by employees laid off on "workman's compensation leave" was not pre-empted by federal labor law. In that case, the employees were laid off pursuant to a provisions in a collective bargaining agreement that covered re-assignment in case of disability or handicap as a result of injury or illness. The contract provided that if an employee disabled or handicapped by an occupational illness or injury could not be placed within certain guidelines, he would be placed on leave until such time as he might be placed. Thirty-four employees brought suit under a provision of Oklahoma law which, like W.Va.Code § 23-5A-1, authorized an action for damages against an employer who discharged an employee for filing a workers' compensation claim. Id. at 1312. The Tenth Circuit observed that the conduct at issue--discharge for pursuit of workers' compensation claims--is not regulated by the National Labor Relations Act, because it is unrelated to union organization or collective bargaining, Id. at 1316, and that workers' compensation is preeminently a matter of state concern. Id. at 1317. Cf. New York Telephone Co. v. New York State Dept. of Labor, 440 U.S. 519, 539-40, 99 S.Ct. 1328, 1340-41, 59 L.Ed.2d 553, 568 (1979) (). Because the likelihood of frustration of national labor policies was deemed minimal, the court overturned a grant of summary judgment in favor of the employer and allowed the action to proceed in state court. Id. at 1324.
Similarly, in Garibaldi v. Lucky Food Stores, Inc., 726 F.2d 1367 (9th Cir.1984), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a suit alleging wrongful termination in violation of state public policy was not pre-empted. There the employee alleged that he was discharged because he reported a shipment of adulterated milk to health officials after his supervisors ordered him to deliver it. Id. at 1374.
We also find persuasive the case of Messenger v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 585 F.Supp. 565 (S.D.W.Va.1984), where the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, in a case strikingly similar to the one at bar, held that a plaintiff alleging that his employment was wrongfully terminated on account of his pursuit of West Virginia workers' compensation benefits, in violation of West Virginia law and public policy, was not pre-empted by...
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