Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma & Yuima Reservation v. Unite Here Int'l Union

390 F. Supp. 3d 1219
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJune 3, 2019
DocketCase No. 16-cv-2660-BAS-AGS
StatusPublished

This text of 390 F. Supp. 3d 1219 (Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma & Yuima Reservation v. Unite Here Int'l Union) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma & Yuima Reservation v. Unite Here Int'l Union, 390 F. Supp. 3d 1219 (S.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

Hon. Cynthia Bashant, United States District Judge *1221OVERVIEW1

This action is an offshoot from a bitter labor dispute between a union and a casino operator. Plaintiff Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma & Yuima Reservation ("Pauma" or "Tribe") is a federally-recognized tribe that operates Casino Pauma on its reservation in Northern San Diego County. "About 2,900 customers visit Casino Pauma each day," and the Casino "employs 462 employees." Casino Pauma v. N.L.R.B. , 888 F.3d 1066, 1070 (9th Cir. 2018).

In 2013, Defendant UNITE HERE International Union ("Union"), which represents service and manufacturing employees, began an organizing drive at Casino Pauma. The Tribe claims this organizing effort involved a series of "antics," including the Union inviting The San Diego Union Tribune to a "staged rally." (Proposed Third Am. Compl. ("TAC") ¶¶ 151-54, ECF No. 44-2.) There, the Tribe highlights that a casino employee allegedly spoke "exclusively through a translator" and "explained that she was 'a cook in the casino's pizza restaurant' who had a '$ 16 hourly salary,' but nevertheless struggled to pay '$ 260 a month for health insurance for her family' of undisclosed size." (Id. ¶ 154.)

As another tactic, Pauma alleges the Union "went berserk," filing a flurry of unfair labor practice charges against Casino Pauma with the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"). (TAC ¶ 5.) Pauma claims that "the one thing that all of these charges have in common is that they seek to turn Casino Pauma into a soapbox for the Union, whereby sympathetic employees can communicate the Union's message directly to customers in any 'guest area' of the gaming facility or associated property-whether that is within a shuttle bus, across a restaurant table, inside a family changing room, or underneath a bathroom stall." (Id. )

Ultimately, however, the Union's charges led to the General Counsel of the NLRB filing several administrative complaints against Casino Pauma for unfair labor practices. Casino Pauma v. N.L.R.B. , 888 F.3d at 1071. The General Counsel's allegations included that Casino Pauma had "interfere[ed] with the distribution of union literature by employees near the public entrance to [the] casino," "threaten[ed] employees with discipline for distributing union literature at that location," and "interrogat[ed] an employee about her union activity." Id. at 1071 n.1. After a three-day trial, an administrative law judge determined "Casino Pauma violated the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. , in most of the ways the General Counsel alleged," and the NLRB affirmed. Id. at 1071 ; see also Casino Pauma (Casino Pauma II) , 363 N.L.R.B. No. 60 (Dec. 3, 2015).

The Tribe and the Union continued their dispute in the Court of Appeals. The NLRB filed a petition for enforcement of its order against Casino Pauma in the Ninth Circuit, the Tribe filed a separate petition for review, and the Union intervened in opposition to Pauma. See Casino Pauma v. N.L.R.B. , 888 F.3d at 1072. The *1222Ninth Circuit rejected the Tribe's challenges and granted the NLRB's petition for enforcement. Id. at 1085. In doing so, the Ninth Circuit upheld the NLRB's "determination that tribe-owned casinos can be NLRA-covered employers," and the court concluded "the NLRA governs the relationship between Casino Pauma and its employees." See id. at 1079.

In the offshoot before this Court, Pauma alleges that by filing the series of unfair labor practice charges directly with the NLRB, the Union has skirted a binding dispute resolution process. (TAC ¶¶ 5, 150-64.) This dispute resolution process is found in a tribal labor ordinance that the State required Pauma to enact to engage in casino-style gaming. (Id. ¶ 2 & n.1.) The Tribe requests that this Court rein in the Union by forcing "arbitration of any open unfair labor practice claims" and ordering the Union to pay Pauma "the costs involved in litigating" the labor charges filed with the NLRB. (Id. Prayer ¶¶ 2-4.) The Union, on the other hand, has argued this ancillary labor dispute is an "improper collateral attack on NLRB proceedings," an effort "to circumvent Ninth Circuit review" of the NLRB's order discussed above, and the product of "procedural gamesmanship." (ECF No. 34-1.)

The Tribe and the Union's dispute has spilled over into this Court because the Tribe is also suing two other defendants-the State of California and Governor Gavin Newsom2 (collectively, "State"). Pauma tries to pull the State into the fray by alleging the State has failed to take "reasonable efforts to ensure" the Union would comply with the dispute resolution process, including by failing to "direct[ ] [the Union] to first file any such unfair labor practice claims through" that process, as opposed to proceeding directly before the NLRB. (TAC ¶ 285.)

Previously, the State moved to dismiss this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, arguing Pauma failed to demonstrate a justiciable controversy between these two parties. (ECF No. 36.) The Union similarly moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. (ECF No. 34.) The Court granted the motions. (MTD Order 24:21-27.) The Court concluded Pauma's pleading failed to demonstrate a justiciable controversy against the State, and the Court discerned no independent basis to exercise jurisdiction over the Tribe's remaining declaratory relief and breach of contract claims against the Union. (Id. 15:25-24:20.) Consequently, the Court dismissed Pauma's Second Amended Complaint. (Id. 25:9-10.)

Pauma now moves for leave to file a Third Amended Complaint. (ECF No. 44.) The State and the Union oppose.3 (ECF Nos. 45, 46.) Upon review, Pauma's proposed amended pleading does not add any new factual allegations to remedy the defects identified in the Court's prior order. And the Tribe's renewed legal arguments remain unpersuasive. Consequently, the Court DENIES Pauma's motion.

BACKGROUND

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Bluebook (online)
390 F. Supp. 3d 1219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pauma-band-of-luiseno-mission-indians-of-the-pauma-yuima-reservation-v-casd-2019.