Toyota Landscape Co. v. Building Material & Dump Truck Drivers Local 420

726 F.2d 525
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 21, 1984
DocketNos. 83-5644, 83-5659 and 83-6545
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 726 F.2d 525 (Toyota Landscape Co. v. Building Material & Dump Truck Drivers Local 420) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Toyota Landscape Co. v. Building Material & Dump Truck Drivers Local 420, 726 F.2d 525 (9th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge.

Two landscape employers appeal the dismissal of their action for breach of contract filed under 29 U.S.C. § 185(a) against Local 420 and an action for “conspiracy to breach contract” against Local 420 and two other [527]*527unions. Originally four landscapers sought damages, specific performance, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. The trial court dismissed the conspiracy claim with prejudice. The claims for punitive damages and attorneys’ fees were also stricken. One landscaper was dismissed from the action with prejudice. After a two-day trial on liability, the court found for Local 420. Only two landscapers appeal.

Prom 1978 to March 1980 the landscapers had collective bargaining agreements with Local 420. In December 1979 the Teamsters and Laborers unions made a jurisdictional agreement. In contract negotiations with landscapers in early 1980, Local 420 and the Laborers were represented by the same attorney. Pursuant to the jurisdictional agreement, Local 420 would negotiate only for employees who drove trucks, while the Laborers would represent other employees. Negotiations broke off. However, in early 1981, Local 420 executed a three-year collective bargaining agreement with landscapers covering all employees. Landscapers argue that Local 420 made the 1981 agreement pursuant to a modification of the jurisdictional agreement between itself and the Laborers. Both sides agree that Local 420 was dissatisfied with Laborers’ compliance with the jurisdictional agreement.

Oliver Traweek, the Local 420 official who executed the agreement, was removed from office by the Teamsters for engaging in “fiscal improprieties.” Richard Martino, who had lost to Traweek by three votes in the previous election for Secretary-Treasurer, was appointed to replace Traweek. Landscapers assert that because Martino feared Traweek would become eligible to run against him in the next election, and because Martino learned that 400 votes of landscaping employees had been illicitly voted against him in the last election, Mar-tino disclaimed interest in representing the landscaping employees, thereby disenfranchising them. Landscapers assert that the employees objected, in part because they would lose their time investment in the Teamsters’ pension fund. Local 420 asserts that Martino disclaimed interest in representing the employees in the hope of improving relations with the Laborers. Local 420 admits that Martino disclaimed interest without consulting the Laborers.

As a result of the union’s disclaimer of interest, landscapers claimed damages in their complaint because, by virtue of working for general contractors required to contract only with subcontractors using union labor, landscapers were forced to pay higher wages to non-Teamster labor than they would have paid under their collective bargaining agreements with Local 420.

1. JURISDICTION

Landscapers' claimed jurisdiction in district court under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), which provides:

Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this chapter, or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.

Local 420 contested jurisdiction by motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, claiming that exclusive jurisdiction rested with the N.L.R.B. The trial court properly denied Local 420’s motions. Northern California District Council of Hod Carriers v. Opinski, 673 F.2d 1074 (9th Cir. 1982). The N.L.R.B. and district court share concurrent jurisdiction over cases legitimately involving both unfair labor practice charges and breach of collective bargaining agreement claims. Although the N.L.R.B. administratively determined that landscapers’ unfair labor practice claims were without merit (a determination within its primary jurisdiction), under Opinski there is no bar to district court jurisdiction to pass on the breach of collective bargaining agreement claims. Indeed, section 301 authorizes federal courts to develop a federal common law regarding enforcement of [528]*528collective bargaining agreements. Textile Workers Union v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972 (1957); Hendricks v. Airline Pilots Association, 696 F.2d 673, 676 (9th Cir.1983). Case law is to be fashioned from the policy of national labor laws. Id. Accordingly, jurisdiction in the district court was proper. Glaziers & Glassworkers Local 767 v. Custom Auto Glass Distributors, 689 F.2d 1339 (9th Cir. 1982), does not support Local 420 in objecting to district court jurisdiction. Glaziers notes that section 301 was intended to permit federal court jurisdiction in disputes that focused on the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

In the instant case, breach of contract, specifically of the no strike provision, between landscaper employers and Local 420, a labor organization, has been alleged as required by Painting & Decorating Contractors Association v. Painters & Decorators Joint Committee, 707 F.2d 1067, 1070-1071 (9th Cir.1983) and cases cited therein. Glaziers’ finding against district court jurisdiction must be read in the context of the facts. In Glaziers, employers were trying to avoid an agreement by arguing that the union did not represent a majority of employees when the agreement was made. That is exactly the kind of question over which the N.L.R.B. has primary jurisdiction. In the instant case the issue is whether the union breached an admittedly valid agreement. That is the kind of common law question that courts traditionally decide.' It is also noteworthy that in its nonevidentia-ry administrative proceeding, the N.L.R.B. determined only that there was no unfair labor practice; it did not reach the breach of contract issue. Local 420 asserts additional arguments in objecting to subject matter jurisdiction in the district court, but none that deserves comment.

2. CONSPIRACY

Initially, in responding to Local 420’s motion to dismiss landscapers’ claim for “conspiracy to breach the contract,” the trial judge granted the dismissal without prejudice. During that hearing the trial judge informed landscapers that they could file an amended complaint. When they did not, the trial judge dismissed the claim with prejudice.

“In the final analysis, the court of appeals will overturn a district court’s dismissal pursuant to Rule 41(b) only where it is apparent that the court abused its discretion. [citations]” Schmidt v. Herrmann,

Related

Lundborg v. Keystone Shipping Co.
138 Wash. 2d 658 (Washington Supreme Court, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
726 F.2d 525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toyota-landscape-co-v-building-material-dump-truck-drivers-local-420-ca9-1984.