Trustees of the New York State Nurses Ass'n Pension Plan v. Cabrini Medical Center

353 F. App'x 528
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedNovember 16, 2009
DocketNo. 09-0751-cv
StatusPublished

This text of 353 F. App'x 528 (Trustees of the New York State Nurses Ass'n Pension Plan v. Cabrini Medical Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trustees of the New York State Nurses Ass'n Pension Plan v. Cabrini Medical Center, 353 F. App'x 528 (2d Cir. 2009).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

In this action, the Trustees of the New York State Nurses Association Pension Plan (the “Trustees”) seek to force the Cabrini Medical Center (“Cabrini”) to make contributions to the New York State Nurses Association (“NYSNA”) Pension Plan. Until March 2008, Cabrini was a Manhattan hospital that employed nurses who were members of NYSNA. Cabrini [530]*530and NYSNA were parties to a collective bargaining agreement (the “CBA”) that expired in January 2008. Under the CBA, Cabrini was obligated to make monthly contributions to the NYSNA Pension Plan, which was administered by the Trustees pursuant to an “Agreement and Declaration of Trust Establishing The [NYSNA] Pension Plan” (the “Trust Agreement”). Notwithstanding the fact that the NYSNA nurses continued to work at Cabrini until the hospital closed its doors on March 17, 2008, Cabrini ceased making contributions to the NYSNA Pension Plan in January 2008.

On June 17, 2008, an arbitrator issued an award in favor of the Trustees (the “Award”), which directed Cabrini to make certain payments to the NYSNA Pension Plan. In the proceedings below, the Trustees moved to confirm the Award, and Cabrini cross-moved to vacate it. On January 30, 2009, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Berman, J.) granted the Trustees’ motion to confirm the Award and denied Cabrini’s cross-motion for vacatur. Cabrini appeals that decision. We presume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal.

When examining a district court’s confirmation of an arbitral award, we review its factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. See 187 Concourse Assocs. v. Fishman, 399 F.3d 524, 526 (2d Cir.2005) (per curiam). In doing so, “[w]e accord a high degree of deference to an arbitrator’s decision.” Id. “[A]s long as the arbitrator is even arguably construing or applying the contract and acting within the scope of his authority, that a court is convinced he committed serious error does not suffice to overturn his decision.” United Paperworkers Int’l Union v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29, 38, 108 S.Ct. 364, 98 L.Ed.2d 286 (1987). “If it were otherwise, the ostensible purpose for resort to arbitration, i.e., avoidance of litigation, would be frustrated.” Amicizia Societa Navegazione v. Chilean Nitrate & Iodine Sales Corp., 274 F.2d 805, 808 (2d Cir.1960).

The resolution of a motion to confirm an arbitral award typically involves a two-part inquiry. First, the court must ask whether the arbitrator acted within the scope of his or her authority in issuing the award. Local 1199, Drug, Hosp. & Health Care Employees Union, RWDSU, AFL-CIO v. Brooks Drug Co., 956 F.2d 22, 25 (2d Cir.1992). Second, the court must ascertain whether the award “draws its essence” from the agreement in question. Id. In this case, the district court answered both of these questions in the affirmative. We agree with its ultimate conclusions.

“The scope of an arbitrator’s authority ... ‘generally depends on the intention of the parties to an arbitration, and is determined by the agreement or submission.’” ReliaStar Life Ins. Co. of N.Y. v. EMC Nat’l Life Co., 564 F.3d 81, 85 (2d Cir.2009) (quoting Synergy Gas Co. v. Sasso, 853 F.2d 59, 63-64 (2d Cir.1988)). Here, the Trustees’ original “submission” to the arbitrator — their March 10, 2008 “Demand for Arbitration” — included as an “Attachment” a copy of the Trust Agreement’s arbitration clause. Cabrini was presumably well aware of the substance of this clause, as it had already “agree[d] to be bound” by the Trust Agreement in a separate “Acknowledgment” form. The “agreement” defining the boundaries of the arbitrator’s authority was therefore the Trust Agreement, as amended. The Trust Agreement, in turn, authorized the Trustees to “compel and enforce [Cabrini’s] payment of contributions” to the NYSNA Pension Plan through arbitration, and it stated that an arbitrator’s decision regarding any such dispute “shall be final and binding.”

[531]*531In light of the language in the Demand and the Trust Agreement, the arbitrator did not exceed her authority by issuing the Award. Moreover, because the arbitrator’s authority was a function of the parties’ agreements, Cabrini’s reliance on Laborers Health & Welfare Trust Fund for Northern California v. Advanced Lightweight Concrete Co., 484 U.S. 539, 108 S.Ct. 830, 98 L.Ed.2d 936 (1988), is misplaced. The Advanced Lightweight Court merely held that sections 502(g)(2) and 515 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1132(g)(2), 1145, do not provide a jurisdictional basis for a federal court to review allegedly unfair labor practices that would otherwise fall under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board. Advanced Lightweight, 484 U.S. at 547-M9, 108 S.Ct. 830. Advanced Lightweight does not divest an arbitrator of authority to resolve a dispute over the meaning of a private contract that contains an arbitration clause. Therefore, the district court did not err in concluding that the arbitrator acted within the scope of her authority.

The district court also properly rejected Cabrini’s argument that the arbitrator incorrectly interpreted the terms of the Trust Agreement. Under the “essence of the agreement” doctrine, a court may “not reverse an arbitral award that draws its essence from the agreement, even if it contains factual errors or erroneous interpretations of contract provisions.” First Nat’l Supermarkets, Inc. v. Retail, Wholesale & Chain Store Food Employees Union Local 338, 118 F.3d 892, 896 (2d Cir.1997). Where, as here, “the parties agreed to submit an issue for arbitration, we will uphold a challenged award as long as the arbitrator offers ‘a barely colorable justification for the outcome reached.’ ” ReliaStar Life Ins., 564 F.3d at 86 (quoting Banco de Seguros del Estado v. Mut. Marine Office, Inc., 344 F.3d 255, 260 (2d Cir.2003)). Moreover, “[ejven where an arbitrator’s explanation for an award is deficient, we must confirm it if a justifiable ground for the decision can be inferred from the record.” Stolt-Nielsen SA v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp., 548 F.3d 85, 97 (2d Cir.2008).

The arbitrator’s decision reflects that she was relying on the Trust Agreement, and she specifically ruled that Cabrini “had an obligation under the Trust Agreement

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353 F. App'x 528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trustees-of-the-new-york-state-nurses-assn-pension-plan-v-cabrini-medical-ca2-2009.