Idaho Building & Construction Trades Council v. Wasden

32 F. Supp. 3d 1143, 200 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3091, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97509
CourtDistrict Court, D. Idaho
DecidedJuly 15, 2014
DocketCase No. 1:11-cv-00253-BLW
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 32 F. Supp. 3d 1143 (Idaho Building & Construction Trades Council v. Wasden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Idaho primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Idaho Building & Construction Trades Council v. Wasden, 32 F. Supp. 3d 1143, 200 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3091, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97509 (D. Idaho 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

B. LYNN WINMILL, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Before the Court are: (1) Defendants Lawrence G. Wasden and Tim Mason’s Motion to Dismiss First Amended Complaint for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdic[1147]*1147tion (Dkt. 106), and (2) Defendant City of Boise’s Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(1) (Dkt. 110). For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies Defendants Wasden and Mason’s Motion to Dismiss but grants the City’s Motion.

ANALYSIS

This case is currently before the Court on a limited remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In earlier proceedings, this Court issued a decision finding that the Open Access to Work Act (the “Open Access Act” or the “OAA”) was preempted by the National Labor Relations Act. Mem. Dec. and Order, 836 F.Supp.2d at 1165, 1166. The challenged statute forbade the state of Idaho and its political subdivisions from including “project labor agreements”1 in bid specifications and contract documents for their public works projects. This Court found that the Open Access Act’s complete ban on project labor agreements interfered with employees’ right to secure such agreements — a form of concerted activity protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.. Attorney General Wasden appealed this decision to the Ninth Circuit.

While this Court’s decision was pending on appeal before the Ninth Circuit, the Legislature passed a nearly identical statute. This time, however, the Legislature codified it as part of Idaho’s public contracting laws rather than as part of the Right to Work Act. 2012 Idaho Sess. Laws ch. 312 § 3, codified at I.C. § 67-2809 (“2012 Act”). In addition to enacting the 2012 Act, the Legislature also amended the original 2011 Open Access Act to remove certain enforcement powers the Act previously entrusted to the Attorney General. Based on the amendments to the 2011 Act, Attorney General Wasden argued to the Ninth Circuit that the appeal should be dismissed because the amendments eliminated any connection he had to enforcement of the Open Access Act and therefore he was no longer a proper defendant under the Ex parte Young doctrine.

While maintaining the Attorney General remains a proper defendant by virtue of his civil enforcement authority, Plaintiffs Idaho Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, and Southern Idaho Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO (“Trades Councils”) have filed a an amended complaint adding two defendants: Tim Mason, in his capacity as administrator for Division of Public Works, Idaho Department of Administration; and the City of Boise. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 6, 8, Dkt. 103. The Trades Councils also add class action allegations that name (1) Mason as the representative of a defendant class “composed of all officials of the State of Idaho who, in their official capacity, are responsible for approving and/or issuing bid documents, specifications, project agreements or other controlling documents for a public works construction contract and are therefore bound by the Anti-PLA Act,” and (2) the City as the representative of a defendant class “composed of all local government entities and other political subdivisions of the State of Idaho that approve and/or issue bid documents, specifications, project agreements or other controlling documents for public works construction contracts and are therefore bound by the anti-PLA Act.” Id. ¶¶ 7, 9.

The Trades Council filed this Amended Complaint in response to the Ninth Cir[1148]*1148cuit’s limited remand. The panel order described the remand’s scope as

1. allowing the Councils to amend their complaint to join additional defendants);
2. allowing both parties to supplement the record with any information that may bear on the justiciability of the OAA claim under the Eleventh Amendment and Article III of the Constitution; and
3. permitting the district court to decide, in the first instance and on the basis of the supplemented record, whether the Attorney General remains a proper defendant for the OAA claim and whether the additional defendant(s) Councils seek to join possess(es) the requisite connection to enforcement of the OAA to present a case or controversy justiciable under the Ex parte Young doctrine.

Order of USCA at 1-2, Dkt. 96.

All defendants, Attorney General Was-den, Administrator Mason, and the City, have moved to dismiss the First Amended Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Wasden argues that he should be dismissed from this lawsuit because the 2012 amendments to the Open Access Act eliminated any connection between the Attorney General’s office and enforcement of the statute, and therefore the Ex parte Young exception does not apply. Mason argues that he should be dismissed because the claims against him are not ripe for review. And the City argues it should be dismissed because the Trades Councils have not — and cannot — show that any of its alleged injuries are traceable to City’s actions; the City also joins Mason’s arguments that the claims against it are not ripe for review.

1. Motion to Dismiss Attorney General Wasden

The Eleventh Amendment generally bars federal lawsuits against a state. Los Angeles Cty. Bar Ass’n v. Eu, 979 F.2d 697, 704 (9th Cir.1992). Yet, few rales are without exceptions, and in Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908), the U.S. Supreme Court created an exception to this rale. This exception allows suits against state officials for the purpose of enjoining the enforcement of an unconstitutional state statute. Eu, 979 F.2d at 704.

A plaintiff, however, is not free to randomly select a state official to sue in order to challenge an allegedly unconstitutional statute. Instead, the individual state official sued “must have some connection with the enforcement of the act.” Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. at 157, 28 S.Ct. 441. “This connection must be fairly direct; a generalized duty to enforce state law or general supervisory power over the persons responsible for enforcing the challenged provision will not subject an official to suit.” Eu, 979 F.2d at 704. If a challenged statute is not of the type to give rise to enforcement proceedings, a state official nonetheless may be named as a defendant under Ex parte Young if he has responsibility to “give effect” to the law. See, e.g., Eu, 979 F.2d at 704.

The Open Access Act itself contains only a private, civil enforcement provision, see I.C. § 44-2013(5). At the time the Trades Councils filed their complaint, however, the Right to Work Act contained a criminal enforcement provision that made a violation of any section of the Act, including the OAA, a misdemeanor. See I.C. § 44-2007. Relying on this provision, this Court found that Attorney General Wasden was an appropriate defendant under Ex parte [1149]*1149Young because he had authority to enforce the Open Access Act through the Right to Work Act’s criminal enforcement provision. Mem. Dee.

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32 F. Supp. 3d 1143, 200 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3091, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/idaho-building-construction-trades-council-v-wasden-idd-2014.