Cooper v. Honeywell International, Inc.

220 F. Supp. 3d 850, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187843, 2016 WL 7324146
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedNovember 18, 2016
DocketCase No. 1:16-cv-471
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 220 F. Supp. 3d 850 (Cooper v. Honeywell International, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cooper v. Honeywell International, Inc., 220 F. Supp. 3d 850, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187843, 2016 WL 7324146 (W.D. Mich. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JANET T. NEFF, United States District Judge

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs’ “Motion to Compel Arbitration of Collectively-Bargained Retiree Healthcare Dispute” (Dkt 24). Defendant filed a Response in opposition (Dkt 26), to which Plaintiffs filed a Reply (Dkt 27). Further, on leave granted, the parties subsequently filed supplemental briefing (Dkts 39 & 40). Having conducted a Pre-Motion Conference in this matter and having now fully considered the parties’ written briefs, stipulated statements of fact and accompanying exhibits, the Court finds that the relevant facts and arguments are adequately presented in these materials and that oral argument would not aid the decisional process. See W.D. Mich. LCivR 7.2(d). For the following reasons, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs’ motion is properly denied and that Count IV (Arbitration) will therefore be dismissed.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant Honeywell International, Inc. operates a plant in Boyne City, Michigan, among other locations. The UAW represents employees in the bargaining unit of the Boyne City plant. Defendant (and its predecessors) and the UAW have been parties to a series of collective bargaining agreement (“CBAs”) covering the Boyne City plant (JSF1 ¶ 1). Plaintiffs Rebecca Cooper, Morris McKenney and Robert Ko-linski are retirees who were in the UAW-represented bargaining unit at Defendant’s Boyne City plant (id. ¶ 2). Plaintiffs are currently under the age of 65 and enrolled in the retiree healthcare benefit plan currently offered by Defendant (id.). Cooper retired on or about March 1, 2016 (id.). McKenney retired on or about November 1, 2015 (id.). Kolinski retired on or about June 1, 2012 (id.).

Article 19 of the 2011-2016 CBA provides, in relevant part, that “[r]etirees under age 65 who are covered under the BC/BS Preferred Medical Plan will continue to be covered under the Plan, until age 65, by payment of 16% of the retiree monthly premium cost” (CBA § 19.7.4, Joint Exhibit [JE] 1, Dkt 25-2 at Pa-geID.245). Article 6 of the 2011-2016 CBA contains a Grievance Procedure, which includes arbitration provisions (JSF ¶ 5).

On November 9, 2015, Defendant sent the UAW and Boyne City retirees letters indicating its intent to terminate retiree medical benefits as of March 31, 2016 (JSF ¶ 4). The next day, November 10, 2015, the UAW filed a grievance, asserting that Defendant’s planned termination of retiree medical benefits would constitute a breach of the CBA (JSF ¶6; JE 5, Dkt 25-7 at PageID.256). Defendant sent the UAW a response, and the UAW replied (JSF ¶ 7).

Specifically, Defendant responded the following:

1. The Grievance does not allege that the Company has eliminated health care benefits for existing retirees under age 65 during the term of the [853]*853parties’ present collective bargaining agreement. Because no contract violation has been alleged and because the Grievance complains about the Company’s future, post-contract expiration intent to exercise its right to terminate retiree health care benefits, the claim is not grievable or arbi-trable.
2. To the extent the Grievance is asserted on behalf of existing retirees under age 65, who will continue to receive health care benefits through the expiration date of the parties’ present collective bargaining agreement, the claim on behalf of such existing retirees is not grievable or arbitrable.
3. To the extent the Grievance is asserted on behalf of active employees who may retire prior to the expiration of the parties’ present collective bargaining agreement and who will be under age 65 as of March 31, 2016, the Grievance is premature, and in any event, because such active employees who retire during the term of the present agreement will cease to be employees upon their retirement, any claim on their behalf is not grievable or arbitrable.
4. The Company reserves the right to have a court decide all questions concerning arbitrability of the claims asserted in the Grievance.

(JE 6, Dkt 25-7 at PageID.259). The word “rejected” was written above the “Appealed to Arbitration” option {id. at Par geID.258).

On December 28, 2015, Defendant notified the Boyne City retirees that it would not terminate the benefits until December 31, 2016 (JSF ¶ 4). Defendant provided the notice to not only its retirees from Boyne City, an active-plant, but also retirees from closed plants in Greenville Ohio; Fostoria, Ohio; and Stamford, Connecticut (PMC Tr., Dkt 19 at PageID.51-54). Defendant indicates that the UAW has not yet brought any claims against it — in arbitration or otherwise — based on the termination of health care benefits for Boyne City retirees (Dkt 26 at PageID.266).

On May 5, 2016, Plaintiffs at bar, three retirees from the Boyne City plant, initiated this case with the filing of a four-count Complaint (Dkt 1). Plaintiffs allege that the proposed termination of coverage breaches the terms of the CBA (Count I) and violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (Count II). Plaintiffs also present an Estoppel claim (Count III), alleging that Defendant improperly induced employees to end their employment and retire. Last, Plaintiffs allege that Defendant’s refusal to arbitrate this dispute constitutes a breach of the CBAs and violates the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 185 (Count IV). Plaintiffs seek to represent a class of all former UAW-represented employees who retired from the plant under Honeywell-UAW collective bargaining agreements and who are under age 65, as well as their spouses and other dependents and surviving spouses {id. ¶ 24).

On May 31, 2016, Plaintiffs filed a Pre-Motion Conference Request, proposing to file “a Rule 56 motion as to Count IV (and a Rule 23 motion for class certification)” (Dkt 6 at PageID.20). Plaintiffs asserted that they could show, “based on the undisputed material facts and the law governing CBAs, that the contract issue between the parties should be arbitrated and done so on a class basis” {id. at PageID.22). On July 12, 2016, this Court conducted a Pre-Motion Conference, at which time Plaintiffs’ counsel indicated that the Court did not need to decide class certification at this point in the litigation, that Plaintiffs “are not going to go forward with a class mo[854]*854tion along with the motion to arbitrate” (PMC Tr., Dkt 19 at PageID.48). Accordingly, the Court issued a schedule permitting the parties to brief Plaintiffs’ proposed dispositive motion to resolve Count IV (Arbitration) (Order, Dkt 15).

The parties filed their motion papers in August 2016 (Dkts 24-27). On leave granted, the parties filed supplemental briefing in October 2016 (Dkts 39 & 40), drawing the Court’s attention to a decision by the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, denying a motion to compel arbitration in a suit brought by retirees from Defendant’s plant in Greenville, Ohio, Barbara Fletcher et al. v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc., No. 3:16-cv-302 (S.D. Ohio).

II. ANALYSIS

A. Motion Standard

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 F. Supp. 3d 850, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187843, 2016 WL 7324146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooper-v-honeywell-international-inc-miwd-2016.