Anderson v. American Federation of Teachers

67 V.I. 777
CourtSupreme Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedAugust 3, 2017
DocketS. Ct. Civil No. 2016-0047
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 67 V.I. 777 (Anderson v. American Federation of Teachers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. American Federation of Teachers, 67 V.I. 777 (virginislands 2017).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

(August 3, 2017)

Cabret, Associate Justice.

Delia Anderson appeals the Superior Court’s August 10, 2016 judgment, which granted the motion for summary judgment filed by American Federation of Teachers d/b/a AFT Local 1826 (“Local 1826”) and entered summary judgment against Anderson. Because Anderson failed to establish the existence of a genuine [780]*780issue of material fact that would preclude summary judgment, we affirm the Superior Court’s August 10, 2016 judgment.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On March 4, 1996, Anderson — a teacher at John H. Woodson Junior High School on St. Croix since 1980 — received a letter from the superintendent of schools for the district of St. Croix informing her that the Virgin Islands Department of Education was terminating her employment. Anderson is a dues-paying member of Local 1826. After receiving the Department of Education’s letter, Anderson “called [her] union representative” at the school, who allegedly told Anderson to speak with Local 1826’s president, Cecil Benjamin. Anderson complied, and met with Benjamin. During this meeting, Anderson claims that Benjamin told her that she “should have never been terminated” and that “he would take care of it.” Anderson “sat with Mr. Benjamin” and “explain[ed] to [him] everything that occurred,” and according to Anderson, she and Benjamin “started filling out papers [for] the grievance process” then existing under the collective bargaining agreement between Local 1826 and the Department of Education. Around the time she initially spoke with Benjamin, Anderson also spoke with Maria Heywood, vice president of Local 1826, who “moved things a little bit further” for Anderson, and who discussed Anderson’s case with her when Benjamin was off island. By letter dated March 11, 1996, Local 1826 informed the Department of Education that it was appealing Anderson’s termination.

At some point between March 4, 1996, and March 14, 1996, a meeting was scheduled to discuss Anderson’s termination. Benjamin was slated to represent Anderson at this meeting, but by letter dated March 14, 1996, Anderson requested that Heywood also be present at this meeting. At her deposition, Anderson testified that this meeting never occurred, and in a May 7, 1996 letter to Benjamin, attributed this nonoccurrence to the Government’s alleged “fail[ure] to respond to the request for an informal meeting.” Anderson also used her May 7, 1996 letter to voice her dissatisfaction with Benjamin’s alleged “lack of professionalism .... lack of responsibility, direction^] and interest,” and demanded that Heywood assume responsibility for her case.

A July 23, 1996 letter from Anderson to Benjamin illustrates that Benjamin did not abdicate his role in Anderson’s case to Heywood. In that letter, Anderson acknowledged that she had spoken with Benjamin earlier [781]*781that day concerning her case. According to Anderson’s letter, Benjamin had “indicated that [he] would be taking [Anderson’s grievance] to the Public Employee Relations Board.” In her letter, Anderson expressed reluctance to do so because she believed “that every effort must be made to resolve this matter prior to taking [that] time-consuming step.” After posing seven questions to Benjamin concerning the status of her case, Anderson concluded her letter by acknowledging that Benjamin had told her to come to his office on Friday, July 26, 1996, to collect written information that Benjamin promised to prepare for her.

Apparently dissatisfied by the pace with which Local 1826 handled her grievance, Anderson filed a “Charge of Unfair Labor Practice” with the Public Employees Relations Board against Local 1826 and the Department of Education on October 7, 1996. The record contains a separate charge for Local 1826 and the Department of Education, but each document bears the same case number: “ULPC-97-03.” In the document pertaining to Local 1826, Anderson alleged that the union “failed to provide adequate representation,” that Benjamin “has neglected to respond to telephone calls and correspondence seeking information about the status of the termination grievance with the Department of Education,” and that “[promises made to pursue the matter in other areas such as PERB have been broken.” In the document relating to the Department of Education, Anderson alleged that the Department terminated her without due process. By stipulation dated November 16, 1997, the Department of Education agreed to reinstate Anderson immediately with payment of back wages. In exchange, Anderson agreed to withdraw “the Unfair Labor Practice Charge, ULPC-97-03.”1

On April 3, 1998, following her reinstatement as a teacher and the withdrawal of ULPC-97-03, Anderson filed a three-count complaint against Local 1826 in the Superior Court. In her complaint, Anderson claimed that the Superior Court had “jurisdiction” over Local 1826 under the Virgin Islands Public Employee Labor Relations Act (“PELRA”), V.I. Code Ann. tit. 24, §§ 361-383. Under count one of her complaint, [782]*782Anderson alleged that Local 1826 breached its fiduciary duty under the collective bargaining agreement “through its bad faith inattention to [her] grievance.” Under count two, Anderson alleged that Local 1826 “was negligent in carrying out its contractual duties [under the collective bargaining agreement because] it failed to file the grievance in a timely manner.” Finally, under count three, Anderson alleged that Local 1826 “was negligent in its representation of [her] grievance” because it failed “to exercise its option of requesting a waiver of the time limits for the processing of the grievance” and “to file [her] grievance in a timely manner . . . causing said grievance to be dismissed.”

On July 20, 2007, Local 1826 moved for summary judgment, arguing that the statute of limitations barred Anderson’s claims. Anderson v. Am. Fed’n of Teachers, Civil No. SX-98-CV-359, 2014 V.I. LEXIS 23, at *10 (V.I. Super. Ct. Apr. 3, 2014) (unpublished). In its order denying Local 1826’s motion, the Superior Court construed the three causes of action pleaded in Anderson’s complaint as a single claim for breach of the duty of fair representation against Local 1826. See id. The Superior Court did not recharacterize Anderson’s complaint sua sponte. Rather, it did so in response to the representations made by both Local 1826 and Anderson in their briefing on Local 1826’s summary judgment motion. See id. (observing that Local 1826 “contends that Anderson’s claim[s are] essentially an action for breach of duty of fair representation,” and that Anderson “also characterizes her suit as a ‘[c]ase against [Local 1826] for breach of duty of fair representation and damages’ ”).

On July 8, 2015, Local 1826 moved for summary judgment again, this time alleging that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Anderson’s duty-of-fair-representation claim. In support of its position, Local 1826 relied on the deposition of Tyrone Molyneaux — Benjamin’s successor as president of Local 1826 — to establish that it had appealed Anderson’s termination, and the deposition of Anderson to establish that Anderson and Benjamin had communicated repeatedly concerning the processing of her grievance. Local 1826 also attached copies of its March 11, 1996 letter to the Department of Education, and Anderson’s May 7, 1996 and July 23, 1996 letters to Benjamin as evidence in support of its motion.

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67 V.I. 777, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-american-federation-of-teachers-virginislands-2017.