McLeod v. Verizon New York, Inc.

995 F. Supp. 2d 134, 2014 WL 502260, 198 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2501, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16242
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 1, 2014
DocketNo. 13-CV-1751 (ADS)(AKT)
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 995 F. Supp. 2d 134 (McLeod v. Verizon New York, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McLeod v. Verizon New York, Inc., 995 F. Supp. 2d 134, 2014 WL 502260, 198 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2501, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16242 (E.D.N.Y. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

SPATT, District Judge.

On or about March 10, 2013, the Petitioner Vince McLeod (the “Petitioner”) filed a Petition in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Nassau against the Respondent Verizon New York, Inc. (“Verizon” or the “Respondent”), pursuant to Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”). The Petitioner asserted (1) that he had been wrongfully terminated from his employment with the Respondent and (2) that his union breached its duty of fair representation and violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process by failing to properly handle his employment grievance against the Respondent.

Subsequently, on April 2, 2013, the Respondent removed the action, uncontested, to this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1441. In this regard, the Respondent asserted that the Petitioner’s employment with the Respondent was controlled by a collective bargaining agreement (the “CBA”) between the Respondent and the Petitioner’s union, Communications Workers of America (“CWA” or the “Union”). As such, according to the Respondent, the Petitioner’s claims were completely preempted by the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a) (“LMRA § 301”), and thus arose under federal law.

Presently before the Court is the Respondent’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ.P.”) 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss the Petitioner’s action. The Respondent also asks for sanctions pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 11. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants the Respondent’s motion and dismisses this case, but denies the Respondent’s application for Rule 11 sanctions.

I. BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise noted, the following facts are derived from the Petition and are construed in a light most favorable to the Petitioner.

A. Underlying Facts

The Respondent is a corporate entity that provides communication services. For approximately twelve years, the Petitioner was employed by the Respondent as a field service technician. The Petition does not offer any additional details with respect to the Respondent’s business or as to the Petitioner’s duties and responsibilities as a field service technician.

On a date unspecified in the Petition, one of the Respondent’s customer complained that he had been improperly charged for downloading eleven, movies which he claimed he had not downloaded. The movies were downloaded during an approximately nine month period, from May 2010 through January 2011. The Respondent investigated the customer’s complaint and discovered that the movies in question had been ordered through a serial numbered cable box that the Respondent had removed from the customer’s home in 2007.

The Petitioner maintained an old operable cable box for use as a test device. At some point, again on a date unspecified in the Petition, the Petitioner produced this box to the Respondent for inspection. According to the Petition, his box was not the one used to download the movies. Nevertheless, the Respondent fired the Petitioner.

[139]*139The Petitioner denies having downloaded the movies. He alleges that after 2007, with respect to the cable box he had removed from the customer’s home, there was no record of a chain of custody and the box was never recovered. He further maintains that there was no credible evidence that he downloaded any of the movies or that he was even in possession of the cable box that was used to download the movies. As such, he claims that he was wrongfully terminated by the Respondent.

In addition, although the Petition is not especially clear, it appears that the Petitioner tried to involve the Union in challenging his termination. However, the Petition suggests that the Union declined to proceed further with the Petitioner’s case after he was terminated. Specifically, on March 9, 2012, the Union sent the Petitioner a letter, which stated as follows:

This letter is to advise you, that Verizon has denied your grievance, and that the National Union has elected not to proceed further with your case.
Enclosed is a copy of the appeal procedure from the CWA Constitution. Should you choose to appeal your grievance, please do so by March 26, 2012. All appeals should be in writing and mailed to CWA Downstate Area Director, Elisa Riordan at CWA District 1, 80 Pine Street, 37th Floor, New York, NY 10005. Please mail a copy to me as well. Please note: appeals sent by email will not be accepted.

(Wexler Deck, Exh. B.) While this letter was not included in the Petition, because the Petition specifically quotes to it, the Court finds that it was incorporated by reference and thus, the Court may consider it. See Brass v. Am. Film Tech., Inc., 987 F.2d 142, 150 (2d Cir.1993) (holding that in its analysis, a court may refer “to documents attached to the complaint as an exhibit or incorporated in it by reference, to matters of which judicial notice may be taken, or to documents either in [the] plaintiff’s] possession or of which [the] plaintiff ] had knowledge and relied on in bringing suit”).

Further, the Court considers the CBA, even though the Petitioner also neglected to attach this document to his Petition. This is because “the collective bargaining agreement [] governed [the Petitioner’s] employment relationship with [the Respondent]” and “[the Petitioner] relied on these documents in bringing suit, and there is no dispute about their relevance or veracity, or that [the Petitioner] knew about and possessed them when he brought this suit.” Washington v. Garage Management Corp., No. 11 Civ. 3420(CM), 2012 WL 4336163, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 20, 2012); see also Severin v. Project OHR, Inc., No. 10 Civ. 9696(DLC), 2011 WL 3902994, at *1 n. 1 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 2, 2011).

In the CBA, Article 11 outlines the grievance procedure. In this regard, Article 11.01 states “that neither [Verizon], its representatives and supervisors, nor the Union, its locals, representatives and the employees it represents, will attempt to bring about the settlement of any issue by means other than the grievance provisions and, where applicable, the arbitration provision of this Agreement.” (Wexler Deck, Exh. C.) The grievance procedure involves a three-step process. In the event the grievance is not satisfactorily resolved by the completion of the grievance procedure set forth in Article 11, the CBA provides that the Union or the Company may arbitrate the grievance under Article 12. According to the CBA, “[t]he decision of the Arbitrator shall be final and binding upon the parties and [Verizon] and [the] Union agree to abide thereby.” (Wexler Deck, Exh. C.)

However, with respect to cases where an employee is discharged, as the Petitioner [140]*140was here, Article 10 of the CBA stipulates that “[n]o arbitrator shall have power or jurisdiction to modify [Verizon’s] action.” (Wexler Decl., Exh.

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Bluebook (online)
995 F. Supp. 2d 134, 2014 WL 502260, 198 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2501, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcleod-v-verizon-new-york-inc-nyed-2014.