Taylor v. Belger Cartage Service, Inc.

102 F.R.D. 172, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16468
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedMay 23, 1984
DocketNo. 83-0057-CV-W-9
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 102 F.R.D. 172 (Taylor v. Belger Cartage Service, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Belger Cartage Service, Inc., 102 F.R.D. 172, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16468 (W.D. Mo. 1984).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEY’S FEES

BARTLETT, District Judge.

On December 22, 1982, plaintiff, an employee of Belger Cartage Service, Inc. (hereafter Belger), filed a complaint against his employer and his union, Team[175]*175sters Local 41 (hereafter Local 41). Plaintiff asserted that Belger’s refusal to permit him to “bump” a Belger job at the Burlington Northern Ramp was a breach of the collective bargaining agreement between Belger and Local 41. Plaintiff prayed for damages in the amount of $156,000 from defendant Belger. Plaintiff claimed that Local 41 had not fairly represented him during the contractually provided grievance procedure. Plaintiff prayed for damages in the amount of $156,000 from defendant Local 41.

Both defendants moved for summary judgment. Local 41 included in its motion for summary judgment a request for the award of its costs and attorney’s fees from plaintiff and his counsel. Summary judgment was granted in favor of the defendants on November 8, 1983. Defendant Local 41 was granted ten days to submit an affidavit in support of its claim for attorney’s fees.

On November 17, 1983, Belger filed a motion to amend the order granting summary judgment to permit it to seek an award of attorney’s fees. On February 10, 1984, this request was granted and Belger was permitted to provide the Court with the information necessary to rule on its request for attorney’s fees.

Standard for Awarding Attorney’s Fees to Prevailing Party

Absent a statute or an enforceable contract, litigants in federal court should pay their own attorney’s fees. Alyeska Pipeline Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). There is no statute specifically authorizing the award of attorney’s fees to a prevailing party in a § 301 Fair Representation case.

However, 28 U.S.C. § 1927 authorizes this Court to order the recovery of the prevailing party’s attorney’s fees from opposing counsel. “Any attorney ... who so multiplies the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously may be required by the Court to satisfy personally the excess costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees reasonably incurred because of such conduct.”

Furthermore, under Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper, 447 U.S. 752, 100 S.Ct. 2455, 65 L.Ed.2d 488 (1980), federal courts have the inherent power to tax the prevailing party’s legal fees “against counsel who wilfully abuse judicial processes.” Id. at 766, 100 S.Ct. at 2464. Wilful abuse of judicial processes or “bad faith” is not restricted to the circumstances surrounding the filing of the case but also may be found “in the conduct of the litigation.” Id.

The same “bad faith” standard applies to a prevailing party’s request for an award of attorney’s fees against a party.

[T]his court has recognized post-Alyeska that an award of attorney’s fees may be proper in an action under section 301 for breach of contract or in a suit for breach of the duty of fair representation, even in the absence of express statutory authorization, if the losing party has acted in bad faith.

Obin v. District No. 9, 651 F.2d 574, 577 (8th Cir.1981).

Therefore, plaintiff’s conduct in bringing and pursuing this case will be assessed to determine whether it constitutes wilful abuse of judicial processes. The conduct of plaintiff’s counsel will be assessed against the same standard as well as against the unreasonable and vexatious multiplication of proceedings’ standard in § 1927.

The Defendants are Entitled to an Amount of Attorney’s Fees from Plaintiffs Counsel

On or about August 19, 1982, plaintiff, Roger Taylor, consulted with his attorney about his unsuccessful efforts to obtain work with Belger after being laid off. Taylor explained to his attorney that he had been laid off by Belger for over twenty days; that he had tried to “bump” a Belger job at the Burlington Northern “ramp” that was being performed by a man with less seniority; that Belger had refused Taylor’s request to “bump” this job; that Taylor had discussed this problem with Lo[176]*176cal 41 and had been informed that the company’s position was consistent with Local 41’s interpretation of the contract. Taylor gave his attorney a copy of the current collective bargaining agreement between Belger and Local 41. Taylor called his attorney’s attention to Article 43 concerning seniority rights of employees.

Thereafter, Taylor’s attorney read part of the collective bargaining agreement and the headnotes to several cases. Also, he remembered Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967), from law school.1

On August 24, 1982, Taylor’s attorney sent a letter to Belger and Local 41 threatening to sue both Belger and Local 41 if Taylor’s grievance was not successful. When this letter was written, counsel believed that whether Taylor would be fairly represented by Local 41 in the grievance procedure could be determined solely by the result of the grievance procedure. In other words, if Taylor won the 'grievance, then Local 41 fairly represented him. If Taylor was not awarded the job along with back pay, then the union had not fairly represented him. Even a cursory reading of Vaca would reveal that whether Local 41 fairly represented plaintiff during the grievance procedure must be determined by what Local 41 did or did not do during the grievance procedure, not solely by the result. Counsel’s belief in this simplistic and clearly erroneous standard for assessing the fairness of the union’s representation persisted through the April 12, 1984, hearing on these motions for an award of attorney’s fees.

After Taylor’s grievance had been denied by the Joint Union Management Committee, Taylor met with his attorney on December 14, 1982, and told him what had happened during the grievance procedure. Taylor said that Local 41 did not go against him, that Local 41 had backed him up, that Local 41 had done a good job for him, and that he got “screwed” when a member of another union on the joint committee voted against his grievance. Taylor thought it was wrong for a union man to vote against him. Taylor testified that he told his attorney that even if his grievance had been granted, he would not have been able to keep the Burlington ramp job because other Belger employees with even more seniority than Taylor also were laid off.

At that meeting Taylor’s attorney advised that in order to sue Belger for breach of the collective bargaining agreement, Taylor had to “claim” that the union had breached its duty of fair representation. Taylor told his attorney that he was reluctant to sue the union because he thought the union had done a good job. However, he was willing to do whatever was necessary to sue Belger. Taylor’s attorney failed to explain clearly to Taylor that he could allege that the union breached its duty of fair representation in a suit against Belger without actually suing the union-.

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Bluebook (online)
102 F.R.D. 172, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-belger-cartage-service-inc-mowd-1984.