Kobielnik v. Union Carbide Corp.

532 F. Supp. 28, 110 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2478, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10090
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 30, 1981
DocketCiv. A. No. 78-2552
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 532 F. Supp. 28 (Kobielnik v. Union Carbide Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kobielnik v. Union Carbide Corp., 532 F. Supp. 28, 110 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2478, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10090 (E.D. Pa. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

TROUTMAN, District Judge.

Charges by defendant, Union Carbide, that plaintiff accidentally delivered nitrogen gas to an argon tank owned by its customer, Grove Manufacturing Company (Grove), led to an investigation of the incident. Upon completion thereof, plaintiff was informed by his employer, Eastern States Transportation Company, Inc. (Eastern), that defendant forbade him from continuing to haul defendant’s products. This effectively cost plaintiff his job since all of Eastern’s truck-leasing work is contracted for by defendant. Plaintiff thereafter instituted suit against his union, Eastern and Union Carbide, alleging a breach of the duty of fair representation. That suit was dismissed due to plaintiff’s failure to allege that he had exhausted internal union procedures prior to its institution. See Kobielnik v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs and Helpers of America, 470 F.Supp. 125 (E.D.Pa.1979).

Contemporaneous with the filing of that suit, plaintiff charged defendant, in this suit, with tortious interference with contractual rights. Adler, Barish, Daniels, Levin & Creskoff v. Epstein, 482 Pa. 416, 393 A.2d 1175 (1978). Plaintiff here complains that defendant improperly caused Eastern to breach its contract, i.e., collective bargaining agreement, with him by requesting that he no longer deliver its products. Since defendant knew that it was the sole source of Eastern’s truck driver jobs, plaintiff reasons that Eastern’s inability to provide him with appropriate employment constituted a de facto breach of contract for which defendant is responsible. Defendant, moving for summary judgment, asserts that there was no breach of contract between Eastern and plaintiff, but, if there was, that defendant’s actions were motivated by a good faith desire to prevent future misdeliveries and to preserve customer relations.

Plaintiff, in order to withstand the motion, must show that defendant’s actions were “improper” and that they “caused” Eastern “not to perform the [collective bar[30]*30gaining] contract.” See Restatement of Torts (Second) § 766 as adopted by Pennsylvania in Birl v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 402 Pa. 297, 167 A.2d 472 (1961). Defendant argues that whether Eastern failed to perform its collective bargaining agreement with plaintiff requires reference to the determination made by the Eastern Conference Joint Area Committee (ECJAC), an employer-employee entity, established by the contract. It held that plaintiff had no “claim for work at Union Carbide but the company is obligated to allow [him] to perform any other work they have in line with his seniority”. Hence, ECJAC did not consider plaintiff’s inability to haul defendant’s products as a breach of the Eastern-Union collective bargaining agreement, this notwithstanding the lack of any available work for plaintiff.

Defendant asseverates that our scope of review of that decision must be limited and accorded the same degree of deference as are awards from arbitrators. Since that scope of review is “narrow in the extreme”, Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workers of North America, Local 195 v. Cross Brothers Meat Packers, Inc., 518 F.2d 1113, 1121 (3d Cir. 1975); International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Local No. 111 v. DeeVille Blouse Co., Inc., 486 F.Supp. 1253, 1254 (E.D.Pa.1980), defendant argues that we are essentially bound by ECJAC’s finding that there was no breach of contract.

A court’s review of a labor-management grievance committee’s decision, such as ECJAC, is “reviewed under the same standard as binding arbitration awards”, Teamsters Local Union No. 30 v. Helms Express, Inc., 591 F.2d 211, 216 (3d Cir. 1979), only if it represents the “parties chosen instrument for the definitive settlement of grievances.” General Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local Union No. 89 v. Riss and Co., Inc., 372 U.S. 519, 519, 83 S.Ct. 789, 791, 9 L.Ed.2d 918 (1963) (emphasis added). Here, neither side contends that defendant was a party to the collective bargaining agreement providing for the ECJAC machinery. Moreover, defendant has not articulated any credible reason why we should extend the “general principle” of refusing to review an arbitration award to which the “parties have contractually agreed to be bound” to a situation where defendant is not a party to the contract and diversity jurisdiction is invoked rather than jurisdiction under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185. See Teamsters Local Union No. 30 v. Helms Express, Inc., 591 F.2d at 212. The case at bar raises considerations of tortious interference with contractual rights; the cases articulating a narrow standard of review for ECJAC-type decisions all arise under § 301.

Defendant’s argument that there was no breach for which it is responsible is based solely upon ECJAC’s determination that Eastern did not breach its collective bargaining agreement with plaintiff. As such, defendant apparently seeks to establish, although it does not so articulate, a collateral estoppel bar to the issue of whether there was a breach of plaintiff’s contract, thereby taking advantage of the ECJAC decision. The bar which we are asked to impose would prevent any greater degree of scrutiny of ECJAC’s decision than we would employ if this case arose under § 301. However, because we disagree with the defendant’s understanding of the ECJAC decision and its effect on this litigation, we will deny the motion for summary judgment.

The reason for the narrow scope of review with which courts consider awards of arbitrators and joint employer-employee committees is based upon the fact that the parties have “bargained for” the decision-maker. United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel and Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 596-97, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 1360-61, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960). Federal labor policy favors the amicable resolution of disputes by the means selected by the parties, their agreement should be honored in court. United Mineworkers of America, No. 2 v. Barnes & Tucker Co., 561 F.2d 1093, 1096 (3rd Cir. 1977). See generally, Teamsters Local Union No. 30 v. Helms Express, Inc., 591 F.2d at 218, and United Mine Workers [31]*31of America District No. 5 v. Consolidated Coal Co., 666 F.2d 806, 809-10 (3d Cir. 1981). In the case at bar, defendant never agreed to be bound by ECJAC’s decisions. In addition, neither plaintiff nor his representative agree that an ECJAC decision could be used in subsequent proceedings by strangers to the contract. In short, defendant was not a party to the contract, did not bargain with plaintiff prior to the formation thereof and neither gained nor gave up anything in order to consummate the contract.

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Bluebook (online)
532 F. Supp. 28, 110 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2478, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10090, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kobielnik-v-union-carbide-corp-paed-1981.