Petition for Writ of Certiorari — McCormick v. AT&T Technologies, Inc.
Supreme Court brief1992
Ask Donna
What actually matters in this document.
Text
FILED | .
G1=515 | se 2500
BFFI@E OF THE CLERK
No.
IN THE
Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1991
WILLIAM T. McCorRMICK,
. Petitioner,
AT & T TECHNOLOGIES, INC. and CAMERON ALLEN,
Respondents.
Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit
PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI
THOMAS H. ROBERTS
2nd Floor, Suite A
33 S. 13th Street
Richmond, VA 23219
MARSHA S. BERZON
177 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
LAURENCE GOLD
(Counsel of Record)
815 16th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 637-5390
WILSON - EPES PRINTING Co., INC. - 789-0096 - WASHINGTON, D.C. 20001
® LEP 00
aa a aS as
QUESTIONS PRESENTED
1. Whether a state law cause of action filed in state
court by an employee covered by a collective bargaining
agreement is completely preempted by § 301 of the Labor
Management Act, 29 U.S.C. $ 185, and therefore remov-
able to federal court, where the claim as pleaded, and as
fairly read, does not necessarily require the interpreta-
tion or application of the agreement, yet the agreement’s
construction may be an issue in the event that the de-
fendant employer seeks to rely upon the agreement as
part of a negating or affirmative defense?
2. Whether a state law claim for intentional infliction
of mental distress filed in state court by an employee
covered by a collective bargaining agreement is com-
pletely preempted by LMRA § 301 and therefore remov-
able to federal court, whenever the actions complained of
involve workplace behavior by the employer or an agent
of the employer?
(i)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SO gg el 8 8) ol |
TAbew OF AUTHORITINRG ...............--2..----000-0-cceseoeese- a
IRI OY ooo ose es cevenenseace--eectac coves cenivensanerienves
i oy 8 2g DoT WS PoP POE ATT
STATUTES INVOLVED ...... 5 PSone SEED PPD SOO EI
Bem emeeemeite OF Iti CASE. nn. .........e-2ccceeneneeceneenn-
ies os esctuhleccooseuesesticrtoresas
i. Ee fF poceeumes Below .....................................-....
(a) District Court Proceedings ........000....2000.000....
(b) Fourth Circuit Majority Opinion ..............
(c) Fourth Circuit Dissenting Opinion ...............
REASONS FOR GRANTING THE WRIT
a co <2 CLR MPa to Med ote oa
A. The Circuit Split on the Question Whether
LMRA §301 Preemption Analysis is Claim-
a anak eincecteecunnne
B. The Circuit Split on the Question Whether
LMRA § 301 Preempts State Causes of Action
for Intentional Infliction of Mental Distress. ___..
Se eg Ey | Sn
(b) The Sixth Circuit ........ 2 RSS RS eR
EN |
TE |
(e) TheSeventh Circuit 0.
ee nade eec con vandecewnasenseseverevsevecvense
ano —_—
~]
10
16
17
18
19
21
22
25
iv
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
CASES Page
Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck. 471 U.S. 202
Ee oO Te ccdannic eta entice Gevemany ee neaaan 8, 16
Brown v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., 901
F.2d 1260 (Gth Cir. 1900) ..).........060cccccciecccns 17
Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386 (1987). passim
Cook v. Lindsay Olive Growers, 911 F.2d 233
bie eter iy IP eh ota Ree Ren Aire 3A tl RBA 21
Douglas v. American Information Technologies
Corp., 877 F.2d 565 (7th Cir. 1989) _..... emia 23
Electrical Workers v. Hechler, 481 U.S. 851
(1967} ......... Srp RR ae Rect Pn ET et OF cared tate ee 8
Farmer v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local
Le: fie. @ . Rp |. y ¢ eee nennennna a LnnEenee 19
Fox v. Parker Hannifin Corp., 914 F.2d 795
(1990) pi free 12,19
Francise Tar Board 1 v. Construction Laborers Ve-
cation Trust, 468 US. 1 (1968) .............-...:...0.....: 15
Galvez v. Kuhn, 933 F.2d 733 (9th Cir. 1991)......8, 22, 23
Gully v. First National Bank, 299 F.2d 109
(1936) .. pe te sae ane PAIS el 8S. BLE aE 15
Hanks v. General Motors Corp., 859 F.2d 67 (8th
+) Ae |) . 12
Hanks v. General Motors: Core: 906 F.2d 341
‘4, | ere Eee es ae acu Vy Sie 20
Harris v. Alumax Mill Products, Fae. 897 F.2d
400 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, USS. oa
By A TD SO ooaeesp oe eee eee 21
Jackson v. Liquid Carbonic Corp., 863 F.2d ql
(det tie. See ........0-2...... 11
Johnson v. Anheuser Busch, Ince., 876 F.2d 620
(8th Cir. 1989) __.. et EAPPIURSAM Pete BSED ES OPS) MN PO 12, 20
Johnson v. Beatrice Foods Co., 921 F.2d 1015
D1: LS RS |_| aa aR Rea in ee cle spre wane 17
Keehr v. Consolidated Freightways of Delaware,
Ine., $26 F230 138 (7th Cit. ISTT) .«.........<2........ 22
Knafel v. Pepsi-Cola Bottlers of Akron, Inc., 899
Te Tate (Gee Git. ROO) o.cncvcece ee ee 19
Krashna v. Oliver Realty, Inc., 895 F.2d 111 (3rd
Cir. 1990) Feipckials iets a te ence 17,18
Vv
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued
Page
Laws v. Calmat, 852 F.2d 430 (9th Cir. 1988)-....... 12
Lingle v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc., 486
USS. 399 A) Eee ARE: OU ete terse neni passim
Local No. 57 v. Bechtel Power Corp., 834 F.2d 884
“Bl Ee SD: Se reieepetinn teed TEE Ser eE ama ssh 13
Magerer v. John Sexton & Co., 912 F.2d 525 (1st
> | ney hp ee NE PES UEN ia ce onl 11
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Taylor, 481
oe SS EG : 2 RR Ree nnn Re Re MOA erst 4k od. SERIES 15
Miller v. AT&T Network Services, 850 F.2d 543
(9th Cir. 1988) .. . 17, 30, 31,22
Newberry v. Pacific Racing Asse! ation, 854 F.2d
1142 (9th Cir. 1988) 12, S13
O’Shea v. Detroit News, 887 F.2d 683 (6th Cir.
UY elect de ete tees eae en: 12,18
Perugini v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 935 F.2d 1083
(9th Cir. 1991) 21
Schlacter-Jones v. General Telephone of Califor-
nia, 936 F.2d 435 (9th Cir. 1991) 12
Smolarek v. Chrysler Corp., 879 F.2d 1326 (6th
Cir.), cert. denied, Us. ——, 116 3. Ct.
539 (1989)... eee 12
Steelworkers v. Raw son, oie A Ss. — 110 Ss. A
1904 (1999) Lites _ See inree ake 8
Stikes v. Chevron USA, Ine., 914 F.2d 1265 (9th
Cir. 1990) .. a IPO LT Rec 12
Teliez v. Pacifie Gas & Electric C6. 817 F.2d 53
(9th Cir.) cert. denied, 484 U.S. 908 (1967 }....::.. Bly ze
Utility Workers v. Southern California Edison,
852 F.2d 1083 (9th Cir. 1988) seteebiccdderiguic te ae
STATUTES
28 U.S.C. § 1441 . : Se ee 2
Labor ietecinans Relations Act
§ 301, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (a). Ee passim
IN THE
Suprenve Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1991
No.
WILLIAM T. MCCORMICK,
m Petitioner,
AT & T TECHNOLOGIES, INC. and CAMERON ALLEN,
Respondents.
Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit
PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI
Petitioner William T. McCormick hereby petitions this
Court to issue a writ of certiorari to review the judgment
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Cireuit in McCormick v. AT&T Technologies, Inc., et al.,
934 F.2d 531 (4th Cir. No. 88-8542, May 28, 1991) (en
bane).
OPINIONS BELOW
The en banc opinion of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is reported at 934 F.2d
531 (1991), and is reprinted in the separately bound ap-
pendix to this certiorari petition (‘“Pet. App.) at pp.
la-33a. The United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia did not issue a written opinion; a
transcript of its oral opinion is reprinted at Pet. App. 35a-
39a, and a copy of the district court judgment is reprinted
at Pet. App. 34a.
2
JURISDICTION
The Fourth Circuit issued its en bane decision and
jedgment on May 28, 1991. On August 15, 1991, the
Chief Justice signed an order granting an extension of
time within which to file a petition for writ of certiorari
to and including September 25, 1991. This Court has
jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1254(1).
STATUTES INVOLVED
Section 301l(a) of the Labor Management Relations
Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), provides:
Suits for violation of contracts between an em-
ployer and a labor organization representing employ-
ees 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 re-
spect to the amount in controversy or without regard
to the citizenship of the parties.
28 U.S.C. $ 1441 provides:
Except as otherwise expressly provided by Act of
Congress, any civil action brought in a state court
of which the district courts of the United States have
original jurisdiction, may be removed by the de-
fendant or defendants, to the district court of the
United States for the district and division embracing
the place where such action is pending. .. .
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
A. The Facts
Petitioner William T. McCormick was an employee of
respondent AT&T Technologies, Inc. (“AT&T” or the
“Company”) until his discharge in October, 1986. Me-
Cormick worked at a facility covered by a collective bar-
gaining agreement between AT&T and the Communica-
tions Workers of America. Although the incidents under-
lying this lawsuit occurred at about the same time as
3
McCormick’s termination, this suit seeks to recover for
injuries caused not by the discharge but by the Com-
pany’s handling of certain of petitioner’s personal
property. Pet. App. 2a-3a, 7a.
As an AT&T employee, McCormick was issued a secure
locker in which he kept both tools issued by his employer
and personal property. That property included a letter
from his ex-wife containing information that was private
and, if revealed, would be extremely embarrassing to
McCormick. Pet. App. 3a; Court of Appeals Joint Ap-
pendix (“C.A. Jt. App.”) 61-62.
In late September, 1986, McCormick was ill for several
weeks and did not report to work. Contending that
McCormick did not keep the Company adequately in-
formed about his absence, AT&T terminated his employ-
ment by a letter dated October 1, 1986. Pet. App. 2a.
The very next day, his supervisor cleaned out McCor-
mick’s locker and discarded his personal property, includ-
ing the letter from MeCormick’s ex-wife, in a trash re-
ceptacle accessible to all employees. A fellow employee
did, in fact, retrieve and pass the letter around to all the
employees on McCormick’s shift. Pet. App. 3a; C.A. Jt.
App. 55.
When McCormick received AT&T’s termination letter,
he contacted the Company and arranged a meeting to dis-
cuss the discharge. At that meeting, held on October 3,
1986, McCormick stated that he knew that all the em-
ployees on his shift had seen the letter in question, and
voiced his apprehensions on how its contents would be
used. As a result of the meeting, AT&T vacated McCor-
mick’s discharge and returned him to his former position
as of that night. Pet. App. 3a; C.A. Jt. App. 60-62.
As soon as McCormick arrived on the job, however, a
fellow employee made a personal remark to him based
upon the contents of the letter that caused petitioner such
embarrasment and distress that he asked to be allowed
4
to leave the plant immediately. When this request was re-
fused, McCormick left anyway, aware that his termina-
tion would be reinstated as a result. Pet. App. 3a; C.A.
Jt. App. 55.
B. The Proceedings Below
(a) District Court Proceedings: MeCormick filed a
common law tort suit in the Virginia courts seeking to
recover for the emotional and physical distress he suf-
fered as a result of the exposure of his private affairs to
a large number of his fellow employees. The complaint
alleged generally that MeCormick’s supervisor knew that
McCormick was in a weakened mental and emotional con-
dition; that the exposure of his personal property caused
McCormick mental, emotional and physical traumas; and
that McCormick’s supervisor knew or should have known
that these injuries would oceur from the actions taken
with regard to the disposal of petitioner’s property, but,
either negligently or intentionally, carried out those ac-
tions anyway. Four common law causes of action—for
intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress,
conversion, and negligence in the care of a bailment—
were pleaded. Pet. App. 3a; C.A. Jt. App. 11-15.
AT&T removed the case to federal court, contending
that McCormick’s state tert causes of action are com-
pletely preempted by § 301 of the Labor Management Re-
lations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. $185: that his claims
are in truth federal claims resting on the applicable ccl-
lective bargaining agreement: and that his case should
therefore be dismissed because barred by the applicable
$ 301 statute of limitations. C.A. Jt. App. 27-28.
On cross motions by MeCormick for a remand and by
AT&T for summary judgment, the district court refused
to remand the case to state court, and granted summary
judgment to the Company “|blecause the claims arise
from conditions of employment governed by a collective
bargaining agreement.” Pet. App. 39a.
_
0
(b) Fourth Circuit Majority Opinion: On appeal, the
Fourth Circuit decided, after briefing and argument in
front of a three-judge panel but before opinion by that
panel, to hear the case en banc. The full appeals court
divided 4-3 on the pivotal legal issue in the case.
Writing for the four-judge majority, Judge Chapman,
joined by Judges Russell, Widener and Wilkens, held that
there is “complete preemption” of the state law claim in
this ease under Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 US.
202 (1985), and its progeny. The majority held that
$301 completely displaces state law claims implicating
an employment relationship whenever resolution of the
claim could involve interpretation of an applicable collec-
tive bargaining agreement. As a consequence, the major-
ity held, this case arises under federal law, federal court
jurisdiction is proper, and the grant of summary judg-
ment for failure to meet the applicable statute of limita-
tions was correct. Pet. App. 13a-14a.
In the maiority’s view, each of McCormick’s common
law causes of action could be defended on the basis that
AT&T owed petitioner no state law duty to keep his
private property, locked in a secure locker, away from
fellow employees, because the collective bargaining agree-
ment authorized the Company to dispose of the property
as it did. Pet. App. 10a. In so ruling, the majority
pointed to no provision of the collective bargaining agree-
ment that regulates lockers or disposal of employee pri-
vate property generally, or that in terms permits AT&T
to expose an employee to public ridicule by allowing fel-
low employees access to embarrassing private property the
employee kept in a secure locker to which those employees
had no access. Rather, the Fourth Circuit majority relied
only upon a broad and vague management rights clause,
providing generally that “the right to manage the busi-
ness and to direct the working forces and operations of
the same, subject to the limitations of this Agreement, is
exclusively vested in, and retained by, the Company”.
Pet. App. 9a.
6
The majority below maintained that the answer to the
question whether AT&T is legally entitled under Virginia
law to dispose of McCormick’s property as the Company
did might ultimately involve arguments based upon the
interpretation of the management rights clause of the
collective bargaining agreement, as upon implied rights
and duties under the agreement. That possibility, ac-
cording to the majority, is sufficient to destroy petitioner’s
state tort law causes of action entirely. Pet. App. 9a-10a.
(ec) Fourth Cireuit Dissenting Opinion: Writing in
dissent, and joined by Judges Sprouse and Murnaghan,
Judge Phillips “disagree|d] fundamentally with the ma-
jority’s view of the way in which the preemptive effect
of § 301 upon state-law tort claims is to be analyzed.”
Pet. App. 19a.
Judge Phillips noted, first, that § 301 provides a federal
cause of action only for suits for violation of collective
bargaining agreements, not for suits “to enforce any
claim by a union-employee against his employer or union
that arises out of or is connected with his employment
relationship, or that somehow touches on matters that
might be the subject of labor relations.” Pet. App. 22a.
This Court’s § 301 preemption cases, in the dissent’s view,
consequently limit preemption to state-law claims explic-
itly alleging violations of labor contracts and those claims
that “can be determined to be claims for violations of
labor contracts in substance though not in form.” Pet.
App. 23a. And, as the dissent read this Court’s cases, the
latter category of cases can be determined by “focus[ing|
on where the claimant has located the duty allegedly
breached by the employer or union-defendant.” Pet. App.
23a ‘emphasis supplied).
Under this “claimcentered” approach (Pet. App. 26a),
there is no preemption as long as the claim as defined
under state law could impose a noncontractual duty and
the plaintiff does not rely on any contractual source for
the legal duty the defendant is alleged to have violated.
7
Where those conditions are met, then “a defendant’s
assertion ... that a labor contract’s terms provide either
a negating or affirmative defense to the claim are irrele-
vant to the preemption issue.” Pet. App. 27a. At the
same time, “to the extent that |the] ultimate resolution
[of the case] requires interpretation of a labor contract’s
terms, ... federal law controls the interpretation [only].”
Pet. App. 27a.
Applying this approach to the present case, the dissent-
ers concluded that, as pleaded, each of McCormick’s com-
mon law causes of action located the duty alleged to have
been violated in general state tort law duties owed to all
persons as a matter of law, and not in the collective bar-
gaining agreement or in any other contract. In the dis-
sent’s view, therefore, these state law claims can go
forward in state court, subject to the understanding that
AT&T is entitled to raise as a defense the contention that
the labor contract authorized the actions taken, so that
those actions could not be determined to be “‘outrageous’”’
“negligent” or “wrongful”. Pet. App. 28a-32a.
,
REASONS FOR GRANTING THE WRIT
Introduction
In a case decided exactly one week before the present
one—and in an opinion holding squarely the opposite of
the holding here—the Ninth Circuit began by stating
At first blush, both the rationale and method of
analysis in {Labor-Management Relations Act $ 301]
preemption cases are straightforward .... Nor are
we deprived of authoritative statements to guide our
way. Lingle [v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc.,
486 U.S. 399 (1988) ] is one, Allis-Chalmers [Corp.
v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202 (1985) ] is another.
In reality, section 301 has been the precipitate of
a series of often contradictory decisions, so much so
that “federal preemption of state labor law has been
8
one of the most confused areas of federal court litiga-
tion.” Note, The Need for a New Approach to Fed-
eral Preemption of Union Members’ State Law
Claims, 99 Yale L. J. 209 (1989). [Galvez v. Kuhn,
933 F.2d 773 (9th Cir. 1991).]
The Ninth Circuit’s characterization of the litigation
generated by LMRA § 301 preemption as “one of the
most confused areas of federal court litigation” is not
hyperbole but an eminently fair characterization of the
chaotic situation in the courts of appeals.
To be sure, this Court, recognizing the importance of
the questions presented here, has sought to delineate
for the lower courts the circumstances in which the
$301 federal common law of labor contracts precludes
state causes of action from going forward where the
plaintiff is an employee covered by a collective bargain-
ing agreement. Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S.
202 (1985); Electrical Workers v. Hechler, 481 U.S. 851
(1987); Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386
(1987) ; Lingle v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc., 486
U.S. 399 (1988). See also Steelworkers v. Rawson, ——
U.S. ——, 110 S. Ct. 1904 (1990).
Despite the attention this Court has paid to this prob-
lem, however, the lower federal courts continue to be
flooded with cases raising § 301 preemption issues, and
continue to disagree with one another on the proper
method of analyzing these issues.
Indeed, the four-three division in the Fourth Circuit,
sitting en banc in the present case, is symptomatic of the
division in the circuits. Each opinion in the present case
relies on decisions from other circuits that do indeed
support that opinion, and that, by definition, are in hope-
less conflict with still other circuit court decisions. See
Pet. App. 29a n.4 (Phillips, J., dissenting) (conceding
that the majority opinion below properly notes that its
preemption holding on the intentiona! infliction of mental
distress count is in accord with those of three circuits, but
9
noting that two other circuits support the dissent’s view,
while a third has ruled both ways. )
This case squarely presents for decision two critical as-
pects of this continuing controversy:
First—as the compelling analysis in the dissenting
opinion in this case shows—-much of the confusion in the
lower courts results from a disagreement as to whether
§ 301 preemption law is “claim-centered”; viz., as to
whether preemption turns only upon the plaintiff’s need
to rely upon the applicable collective bargaining agree-
ment as one of the essential elements pleaded in the com-
plaint or turns as well on the need to consult that agree-
ment in resolving the case because the defendant intends
to rely on the agreement as a defense.
As to that question, there is the plainest of circuit
conflicts:
The First, Fourth, Eighth and Ninth Circuits hold that
a defendant can indeed defeat a state cause of action sim-
ply Ly announcing that the defendant intends in some way
to rely upon an applicable collective bargaining agree-
ment as part of its defense.
The Sixth and Tenth Circuits hold squarely to the op-
posite.
And, while both the language and the underlying ra-
tionale of this Court’s cases as a whole clearly favor the
approach of the dissent in this case—which is also the
approach of the Sixth and Tenth Circvits—there is at
least one sentence in Lingle v. Norge Division of Maqic
Chef, Inc., supra, that suggests otherwise, and that ap-
pears to be a contributing cause to the lower courts’ dis-
array. Pp. 10-16, infra.
Second, there is a multi-faceted circuit conflict—with a
split that does not precisely mirror the one as to the
“c'aim-centered” controversy—on whether state causes of
action for intentional infliction of emotional distress
10
growing out of the manner in which a discharge or other
discipline is carried out, available in a increasing num-
ber of states, are completely preempted by § 301 where
the plaintiff is covered by a collective bargaining agree-
ment.
The Fifth and Tenth Circuits agree with the majority
in the present case that such claims are preempted.
The Third Circuit agrees with the dissent below that
such claims are not preempted.
And, the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Cireuits all
hold that such claims may be preempted or not, yet apply
three different standards for separating preempted state
causes of action for intentional infliction of mental dis-
tress from those not preempted. Pp. 16-25, infra.
The attention this Court has paid to § 301 preemption
questions in recent years demonstrates the importance to
a coherent labor policy of a proper delineation of the role
of state law employment-related causes of action in a
workplace where a collective bargaining agreement gov-
erned by federal common law is in place. Since the com-
plexity of the $ 301 preemption issues presented here has
led to continuing circuit conflicts, it is imperative that
this Court once more draw the precise dividing line be-
tween the federal labor laws and state law.
A. The Circuit Split on the Question Whether LMRA
§ 561 Preemption Analysis is Claimcentered:
(1) In this case, as in many others, the state court
complaint did not in terms rely upon any collective bar-
gaining agreement at all, and there is no basis for read-
ing the complaint as necessarily relying on the applicable
agreement as the source of the legal duty the defendant
is alleged to have violated. To the contrary, the complaint,
fairly read, contends that under the applicable state law
the defendant employer owed to the plaintiff employee the
same duty the defendant would have owed to any individ-
ual over whose property, for whatever reason, the defend-
11
ant had custody, and that the defendant violated that
duty. C.A. Jt. App. 11-12, 14-15.
AT&T, however, has maintained that the Company is
entitled under state law to defend this case on the basis
that the broad management rights clause in, or in the
alternative some implied provision of, the collective bar-
gaining agreement affirmatively sanction its actions here.
It is AT&T’s position that simply by raising a labor-
contract-based defense—without regard to whether the
defense would turn out to have any merit if put to the
test—the Company renders petitioner’s state law cause of
action a legal nullity. Like the majority in this case,
the First, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits, have accepted this
breathtaking expansion of § 301 preemption.
For example, in Magerer v. John Sexton & Co. 912
F.2d 525 (1st Cir. 1990), the First Circuit addressed the
question of whether § 301 preempts a state law cause of
action for retaliatory discharge that differed from the
cause of action upheld against a preemption attack in
Lingle, supra, only in that the pertinent statute provided
a defense where “any right in this section is inconsistent
with an applicable collective bargaining agreement.” 912
.2d at 527, n.1. Because it would be necessary to con-
strue the collective bargaining agreement in order to eval-
uate any such defense if raised, the First Circuit held the
retaliatory discharge cause of action preempted. Jd. at
930-31. See also Jackson v. Liquid Carbonic Corp., 863
F.2d 111, 118 (1st Cir. 1988) (holding that a state cause
of action is preempted by § 301 as long as a waiver de-
fense is available under state law).
Similarly, the Ninth Circuit, in two cases, has held
that an employee’s state law privacy claim is preempted
whenever the defendant employer contends that the pri-
vacy right is waived by the management rights clause, or
some other provision, of the applicable collective bargain-
ing agreement. Utility Workers v. Southern California
Edison, 852 F.2d 1083, 1086-87 (9th Cir. 1988); Laws v.
12
Calmat, 852 F.2d 430, 433 (9th Cir. 1988) ; see also New-
berry v. Pacific Racing Ass’n., 854 F.2d 1142, 1146 (9th
Cir. 1988).!
And, the Eighth Cireuit, in Hanks v. General Motors
Corp., 859 F.2d 67, 70 (8th Cir. 1988), held emphaticaliy
that “defenses as well as claims must be considered in
determining whether resolution of the state law claim re-
quires construing the collective bargaining agreement.”
See also Johnson v. Anheuser Busch, Inc., 876 F.2d 620,
623 (8th Cir. 1989).
Just as emphatically, the Sixth Circuit has embraced
the “‘claim-centered” analysis articulated in the dissenting
opinion in this case, several times reiterating that “[i]t
is irrelevant to the preemption question whether or not
the employer can defend by showing it had the rights un-
der the collective bargaining agreement to do what it
did.” O’Shea v. Detroit News, 887 F.2d 683, 687 (6th
Cir. 1989) (emphasis added); see also Fox v. Parker
Hannifin Corp., 914 F.2d 795, 800 (6th Cir. 1990) (“a
defendant’s reliance on a [collective bargaining agree-
ment] term purely as a defense does not result in section
301 preemption”); Smolarek v. Chrysler Corp., 879 F.2d
1326, 1334 (6th Cir.) (en bane), cert. denied, USS.
, 110 S. Ct. 5389 (1989) (that the defendant may “as-
sert that its treatment of Smolarek was allowed or re-
quired by the terms of the collective bargaining agree-
ment ... does not support removal to federal court’’).
1In Stikes v. Chevron USA, Ine., 914 F.2d 1265 (9th Cir. 1990)
the Ninth Circuit similarly held that a state law privacy claim is
preempted by § 301, but did so on a slightly different basis than
Utility Workers and Laws: Stikes purported to view the collective
bargaining agreement not as a defense to a state law privacy cause
of action, but as part of the plaintiff employee’s prima facie claim
because pertinent to whether the employee’s claimed expectation of
privacy was reasonable. 914 F.2d at 1270. See also Schlachter-Jones
v. General Telephone of California, 936 F.2d 435 (9th Cir. 1991)
(adopting a similar approach). Neither Stikes nor Schlachter-Jones,
however, disavowed Utility Workers or Laws, but instead reiterated
their holdings. 914 F.2d at 1268; 936 F.2d at 439-41.
13
Similarly, the Tenth Circuit, in Local No. 57 v. Bech-
tel Power Corp., 834 F.2d 884, 889 (10th Cir. 1987),
held that even if a state court “would find the collective
bargaining agreement relevant to show waiver or consent
as a state-law defense to plaintiffs’ allegations,” there
would still be no complete § 301 preemption of a state
law claim, and no federal court jurisdiction over such a
claim.
In short, a more direct and pronounced difference
among the courts of appeals on a basic issue critica} to
the decision of a recurrent issue of federal law—and, in-
deed, of federal jurisdiction—is difficult to imagine.
(2) One would think, from the deep split in the cir-
cuits as to the impact of collective-bargaining-agreement-
dependent defenses on § 301 preemption analysis, that
this Court’s cases do not address the issue. To the con-
trary, in Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, supra, one ques-
tion directly raised was whether “§ 301 preempts a state-
law claim even when the employer raises only a defense
that requires a court to interpret or apply a collective bar-
gaining agreement,” and the Court was equally direct in
answering that question in the negative:
It is true that when a defense to a state claim is
based on the terms of a collective bargaining agree-
ment, the state court will have to interpret that agree-
ment to decide whether the state claim survives. But
the presence of a federal question, even a § 301 ques-
tion, in a defensive argument does not overcome the
paramount policies embodied in the well-pleaded com-
plaint rule—that the plaintiff is the master of the
complaint, that a federal question must appear on the
face of the complaint, and that the plaintiff may, by
eschewing claims based on federal law, choose to have
the cause heard in state court. When a plaintiff in-
vokes a right created by a collective-barzaining agree-
ment, the plaintiff has chosen to plead what we have
held must be regarded as a federal] claim, and removal
is at the defendant’s option. But a defendant cannot,
14
merely by injecting a federal question into an action
that asserts what is plainly a state-law claim, trans-
form the action into one arising under federal law.
[482 U.S. at 398-99 (emphasis in original) .]
To be sure, as Judge Phillips notes in the dissent in this
case (Pet. App. 24a-25a), there is one passage in this
Court’s Lingle opinion that could be read to suggest that
in determining § 301 preemption issues, it is proper to an-
ticipate defenses that may be raised and to determine
whether it will be necessary to construe or apply the col-
lective bargaining agreement in adjudicating those de-
fenses. See 486 U.S. at 407 (surveying the elements of
the plaintiff’s case in a state law retaliatory discharge
proceeding, and the elements of the defense thereto, and
concluding, “Thus, the state-law remedy in this case is ‘in-
dependent’ of the collective bargaining agreernent in the
sense of ‘independent’ that matters for § 301 preemption
purposes: resolution of the state-law claim does not re-
quire construing the collective-bargaining agreement.”’ )
There is, however, no indication that Lingle intended so
casually to overrule Caterpillar on a question directly
raised and decided only in the earlier case. To the con-
trary, Lingle elsewhere in the opinion relies heavily upon
Caterpillar, quoting language from Caterpillar that in-
corporates Caterpillar’s “claim-centered approach.” * And,
Lingle also takes care to recognize that there may be
cases in which there is a question concerning the interpre-
2 That passage reads in part:
“Section 301 governs claims founded directly on rights created
by collective-bargaining agreements, and also claims ‘substan-
tially dependent on an analysis of a collective-bargaining agree-
ment’.... [Clontrary to Caterpillar’s assertion, . . . respond-
ents’ complaint is not substantially dependent upon interpreta-
tion of the collective bargaining agreement. It does not rely
upon the collective agreement indirectly, nor does it address
the relationship between the individual contracts and the col-
lective agreement.” [486 U.S. at 410, n.10 quoting Caterpiliar,
482 U.S. at 394-95 (emphasis supplied). |]
15
tation of a collective bargaining agreement but no § 301
preemption; in that event, said the Lingle Court, “federal
law would govern the interpretation of the agreement,
but the separate state law analysis would not thereby be
preempted.” 486 U.S. at 413 n.12. There can, of course,
be no such cases under the complete preemption approach
espoused by the majority below.
It is equally to the point that where, as in this case,
suit is originally filed in state court, general principles of
federal jurisdiction preclude reliance upon a federal de-
fense as a basis for removal. Franchise Tax Board v.
Construction Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 12
(1983); Gully v. First National Bank, 299 U.S. 109, 112-
113 (1936). That principle is reiterated at the outset of
Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 391-92, and is referred to in the
passage quoted above holding that a defense based upon
a collective bargaining agreement is not a basis for § 301
preemption. Thus, to read the Lingle opinion as holding
otherwise would be to construe Lingle not only as over-
ruling Caterpillar but also as putting into question one of
the most basie rules of “[t]he century-old jurisdictional
framework governing removal of federal question cases
from state into federal courts,” Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 68 (1987).
Caterpillar’s conclusion regarding the “claim-centered”’
nature of $301 preemption is, moreover, the conclusion
that is fully consistent with both the language and the un-
derlying purposes of $301: As Judge Phillips noted be-
low, the federal statute provides federal jurisdiction and
federal substantive law only where the plaintiff seeks to
adjudicate his/her contract-based rights, either in form
or in substance. Pet. App. 23a. Unless § 301 preemption
is similarly limited, the result would be to destroy state
causes of action, even though there is no suitable federal
substitute. Indeed, employers could achieve this result by
raising frivolous defenses; viz., defenses that would have
little or no chance of success if adjudicated on the merits.
16
The animating consideration underlying § 301 preemp-
tion—the assurance of uniformity in the interpretation
and application of collective bargaining agreements “—can,
moreover, be fully achieved without thus sacrificing the
state law rights of employees covered by collective bar-
gaining agreements. As Judge Phillips explained in his
dissent, under the “claim-centered” approach while the
plaintiff employee’s state law
action is to be resolved under state law ... to the
extent that its ultimate resolution requires interpreta-
tion of a labor contract’s term, .. . federal law con-
trols the interpretation. [Pet. App. 27a (emphasis in
original). ]
Thus, Caterpiliay’s conclusion that § 301 preemption
is “claim-centered” is entirely correct. At the same time,
since the confusion sowed by the courts of appeals’ va-
rious readings of Lingle has led to a sharp cleavage
among the circuits on the question whether anticipated
defenses should be taken into account in determining
$ 301 preemption, this Court should grant certiorari to
clear up this matter once and for all.
B. The Circuit Split on the Question Whether LRMA
§ 301 Preempts State Causes of Action for Intentional
Infliction of Mental Distress:
(1) The courts of appeals are divided not only on the
proper overall approach to analyzing § 301 preemption
3 See, e.g., Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, supra, 471 U.S. at 210-11:
if the policies that animate § 301 are to be given their proper
range ,.. the pre-emptive effect of § 301 must extend beyond
suits alleging contract violations. ... The interests in inter-
pretive uniformity and predictability that require that labor-
contract disputes be resolved by reference to federal law also
require that the meaning given a contract phrase or term be
subject to uniform federal interpretation. Thus, questions
relating to what the parties to a labor agreement agreed, and
what legal consequences were intended to flow from breaches
of that agreement, must be resolved by reference to uniform
federal 'aw, whether such questions arise in the context of a
suit for breach of contract or in a suit alleging liability in
tort
17
problems but on the specifies of whether the increasingly
common state causes of action for intentional infliction of
emotional distress are preempted by $301 where the
plaintiff employee is covered by a collective bargaining
agreement.
The Fourth Circuit majority in this case held that such
causes of action are completely preempted by § 301 be-
cause contractual considerations are necessarily relevant
in determining whether or not particular behavior is
“outrageous and intolerable”, an element of the state tort
cause of action. Pet. App. 10a.
The Fifth and Tenth Circuits have adopted essentially
the same approach, and reached the same result. Brown
v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., 901 F.2d 1250, 1256
(Sth Cir. 1990) ; Johnson v. Beatrice Foods Co., 921 F.2d
1015 (10th Cir. 1990). See also Miller v. AT&T Network
Services, 850 F.2d 543 (9th Cir. 1988) 4
At the same time, as the Tenth Cireuit expressly notes
in Johnson v. Beatrice Foods, supra, “other circuits have
reached varying results when applying the Allis Chalmers
and Lingle holding to state tort claims for intentional in-
fliction of emotional distress.” 921 F.2d at 1021. The
other circuits referred to are the Third, Sixth, Seventh,
Eighth and Ninth and we now detail the resulting multi-
faceted circuit split.
(a) The Third Circuit: Among the cases cited in
Johnson v. Beatrice Foods, supra, as reaching “conflicting
results,” to that reached by the Fourth, Fifth and Tenth
Circuits is Krashna v. Oliver Realty, Inc., 895 F.2d 111
(3rd Cir. 1990).
* While the Miller case embraces the premise that the collective
bargaining agreement is necessarily relevant in such cases in order
to determine whether the employer’s behavior is sufficiently “out-
rageous,” the Ninth Circuit has not followed that premise to the
conclusion that $301 uniformly preemnts all intentional infliction
of mental distress cases, Sce p. 21, infra,
18
In Krashna, the Third Cireuit squarely held that, as a
general matter, claims by employees covered by a collec-
tive bargaining agreement for intentional infliction of
emotional distress are not preempted because such claims
are “clearly outside the scope of the collective bargaining
agreement and § 301 of the LMRA.” 895 F.2d at 114.
It is plain from the Krashna opinion that the Third Cir-
cuit so holds even where the employer’s actions alleged
as tortious involve employment conditions arguably com-
mitted to managerial discretion as an ordinary matter.
See 895 F.2d at 115 n.5 (allegations of harassment in the
complaint included ordering the plaintiff to work contrary
to doctor’s orders, unjustified disciplinary warnings, and
unfair work assignments).
Under the Fourth Circuit’s approach in this case,
focussing upon whether the state cause of action arises
from a working condition that may be implicated by the
applicable collective bargaining agreement, the intentional
infliction claim in Krashna would certainly have been
preempted.
(b) The Sixth Circuit: The law in the Sixth Circuit
is along the same line as—but slightly more complex than
—the law in the Third Circuit.
O’Shea v. Detroit News, supra, 887 F.2d at 687,
arose when the employer allegedly transferred an elderly
employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement to
a night shift, knowing that the employee had health prob-
lems, in order to force him to retire. Because “the News
could have tortiously caused O’Shea emotional distress
without violating the contract”, the Sixth Circuit held the
cause of action not preempted. Jd. (emphasis added).
Here, as well, the state court complaint does not con-
tend that the actions taken by AT&T were in violation of
the collective bargaining agreement. Thus, under the
standard applied in O’Shea, the present cause of action
19
for intentional infliction of emotional distress could not
be preempted.
In two later cases, Knafel v. Pepsi-Cola Bottlers of
Akron, Ine., 899 F.2d 1473, 1483 (6th Cir. 1990) and
Fox v. Parker Hannifin Corp., supra, 914 F.2d at 795,
the Sixth Circuit elaborated upon the standard applicable
to the s 301-preemption-of-intentional-infliction-of-mental-
distress cases. Drawing on this Court’s holding in
Farmer v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 25,
430 U.S. 290, 302 (1977), the Sixth Circuit stated that
state causes of action for intentionally inflicting emo-
tional distress are not preempted as long as the claimed
injury flows from the abusive manner in which the em-
ployer exercises its proper authority under the collective
bargaining agreement (or fails to do so), and not from
the “routine exercise of | collective bargaining agreement |
rights” alone. Fox, 914 F.2d at 802; see also Knafel, 899
F.2d at 1488.
The Fourth Circuit majority in this case recognized no
such distinction; had the majority below done so, its deci-
sion would have had to be that petitioner’s claim is not
preempted by § 301." Nor have the Fifth or Tenth Cir-
cuits suggested any “abusive manner” limit to cheir broad
s 301 rule preempting intentional infliction of emotional
distress causes of action.
(ec) The Eighth Circuit: The Eighth Cireuit also holds
that most intentional infliction causes of action arising
in a workplace covered by a collective bargaining avree-
ment are not preempted by § 301, applying a different
standard for making this distinction than the one sug-
gested in the most recent Sixth Circuit cases.
* Petitioner’s intentional infliction cause of action does not seck
to recover for emotional injuries caused by the fact that the em-
ployer cleaned out McCormick’s locker and discarded his private
property. Rather, the injury for which damages are sought flowed
from the manner in which the property was discarded: viz., in full
view of petitioner’s fellow employees, so that they were able to re-
cover and read petitioner’s private papers.
20
Thus, the most recent Eighth Circuit decision—Hanks
v. General Motors Corp., 906 F.2d 341, 344 (8th Cir.
1990)—holds that § 301 does not preempt a state inten-
tional infliction cause of action where the employer as-
signed an employee covered by a collective bargaining
agreement to work under a supervisor whom the employer
knew had sexually assaulted the employee’s daughter. In
so doing, the Eighth Circuit expressly disagreed with the
Ninth Cirecuit’s approach in Miller v. AT&T Network
Service, supra, in this regard (and therefore with the
approach followed by the Fourth Circuit here, which
parallels the Miller approach). Hanks, 906 F.2d at 344
n.4 (“Inasmuch as the opinion in Miller v. AT&T Net-
work Services ... would suggest a result different from
the one indicated . . ., we disagree.” )
At the same time, Hanks distinguished Johnson v. An-
heuser Busch, supra, finding preemption of an intentional
infliction claim, on the basis that in Johnson, but not
Hanks, the essence of plaintiff's cause of action was
that the discharge was totally improper under the ap-
plicable collective bargaining agreement and therefore
“outrageous.” Hanks, 906 F.2d at 344."
The Eighth Circuit, then, holds that intentional] inflic-
tion claims are § 301 preempted only where an alleged
labor contract violation is itself the primary basis for
demonstrating that the employer’s behavior comes within
the narrow range of egregious behavior that supports an
intentional infliction cause of action. That the action
complained of involved a working condition and, accord-
ing to the employer, complied with the contract is not
a sufficient basis for § 301 preemption. In the iatter
regard, the Eighth Circuit law is in direct conflict with
the § 301 preemption law in the Fourth, Fifth and Tenth
‘In Ilanks, for example, the employer apparently contended that
its actions were in compliance with the collective bargaining agree-
ment and, therefore, the employer could not be found to have be-
haved in an “outrageous” manner. 906 F.2d at 344.
21
Cireuits and in some tension with the law of the Sixth
Cireuit.?
(ad) The Ninth Circuit: Like the Sixth and Eighth Cir-
cuits, the Ninth Circuit, which has decided the largest
number of cases in this area, finds some state law inten-
tional infliction cases preempted by § 301 but allows
others to go forward. Compare, e.g., Miller v. AT&T
Systems, supra, with Galvez v. Kuhn, supra; see also,
e.g., Cook v. Lindsay Olive Growers, 911 F.2d 233, 239-
40 (1990); Harris v. Alumax Mill Products, inc., 897
F.2d 400, 402 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, US. ;
111 S. Ct. 102 (1990); Newberry v. Pacific Racing As-
sociation, supra, 854 F.2d at 1150 (preempted); Tellez
v. Pacifie Gas & Elec. Co., 817 F.2d 53 (9th Cir.), cert.
denied, 484 U.S. 908 (1987) (not preempted) ; Perugini
v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 935 F.2d 1083, 1085 (9th Cir.
1991) (partially preempted and partially unpreempted).
But the Ninth Circuit’s governing preemption standard
for these kinds of cases is not the same as the standard
applied in either the Sixth or the Eighth Circuit toward
the same end.
The most fully reasoned Ninth Circuit decision, Galvez
v. Kuhn, supra, first notes that the Ninth Circuit has
heen more receptive to § 301 preemption claims of inten-
tional infliction causes of action than the Seventh and
Kighth circuits and then takes pains fully to review and
explain the state of the Ninth Circuit’s cases in this area.
933 F.2d at 779.* Having done so, Galvez concludes that
7 Again, had the Eighth Circuit’s standard been applied here,
there could have been no basis for a preemption finding: Petitioner's
state law intentional infliction cause of action does not depend upon
a finding that AT&T violated the applicable collective bargaining
agreement by cleaning out his locker upon his termination, or even
that AT&T violated the agreement by the manner in which the
Company cleaned out the locker.
* Galvez involved a situation in which a supervisor subjected the
plaintiff employee both to racial slurs and to being required to work
22
in the Ninth Circuit, there is no § 301 preemption of an
intentional infliction tort cause of action where “‘[t|he
employer’s claim revolved around conduct by his empioyer
that is not even arguably sanctioned by the labor con-
tract.’” 933 F.2d at 780.°
Thus, while the Eighth Circuit will not consider an
employer’s anticipated defense of compliance with the
collective bargaining agreement at all, the Ninth Circuit
makes an anticipatory reading of the collective bargaining
agreement to determine whether the employer’s antici-
pated defense has any realistic chance of success. And,
the Sixth Circuit’s substance,manner distinction is ap-
parently of no moment in the Ninth Circuit.
(e) The Seventh Circuit: We have left the Seventh
Circuit to last since that court, too, has held state
intentional infliction of mental distress claims sometimes
preempted by § 301 and sometimes not preempted but
without making it entirely clear what standard governed
in making this distinction. So far as appears from its
opinions, however, the line of demarcation in the Seventh
Circuit is closest to the Ninth Circuit’s line as fully
articulated in the Galvez v. Kuhn ease just discussed.
Keehr v. Consolidated Freightways of Delaware, Inc.,
825 F.2d 133, 187 (7th Cir. 1977), for example, holds
an intentionalivy speeded-up conveyor belt, making the working con-
ditions physically dangerous.
® Similarly, Tellez v. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co., supra, found non-
preemption of a claim of emotional distress based upon the em-
ployer’s distribution of a defamatory letter because “| t|he collective
bargaining agreement does not envision such behavior.” 817 F.2d
at 539; see also Miller v. AT&T Systems, supra, 850 F.2d at 550 n.5
(finding preemption, but distinguishing Tellez on this basis}.
Again, under the Ninth Circuit’s standard, the Fourth Circuit’s
conclusion in this case could not stand: The collective bargaining
agreement in this case did not affirmatively “sanction” the discard-
ins of petitioner’s very personal papers in full view of fellow em-
plovees; and mere “[c]ompliance with the [collective bargaining
agreement| ... cannot temper the potentional outrageousness of
the conduct.” Galvez v. Kuhn, supra, 933 F.2d at 780.
23
that a state intentional infliction of mental distress claim
based upon the use of abusive language by a supervisor
is not § 301 preempted. The Seventh Circuit reached this
conclusion even though the employee’s contention was that
the incident was part of a campaign to provoke a basis
for discharge, and even though the emplovee could have
filed a grievance against the employer to protest the inci-
dent. 825 F.2d at 136, 138.
On the other hand, Douglas v. American Information
Technologies Corp., 877 F.2d 565 (7th Cir. 1989), while
explicitly recognizing Keehr as good law, 877 F.2d at
571, announced that there is § 301 preemption wherever
the “intentional infliction of emotional distress clair con-
sists of allegedly wrongful acts directly related to the
terms and conditions of her employment,” id. at 572, n.10.
Keehr was different, said the Seventh Circuit, because
“the plaintiff's claim ‘revolved around conduct by his
employer that is not even arguably sanctioned by the labor
contract.’” 877 F.2d at 572, quoting Keehr, 825 F.2d
at 138 n.6.
* * oe *
In sum, the various courts of appeal have articulated
sharply conflicting standards—and reached irreconcilable
results—in the cases concerning whether employees cov-
ered by collective bargaining agreements can maintain
state law causes of action for intentional infliction of
emotional distress against thier employers. And, as the
sheer number of cases addressing this issue in the last
three years indicates, the issue is one of recurring im-
portance in the federal! courts.'®
The above citations do not exhaust the court of appeals cases
in which § 301 preemption of intentional infliction claims was at
issue; there are other cases, for example, in the First, Fourth, and
Ninth Circuits which either repeat the same standards and results
or do not reach the merits. And, of course, for each reported court
of appeals case there is, in all likelihood, an unreported appellate
case and several district court cases, reported and unreported. In-
deed, the district court in this case regarded the issue as so routine
24
(2) The conclusion reached by the Fourth Circuit ma-
jority here is not only in conflict with the conclusions
reached by other circuits, it is wrong. Section 301 pre-
emption cannot be stretched so far as to defeat an em-
ployee’s state law claim against his/her employer for
intentional infliction of emotional distress where state
law, and not the applicable collective bargaining agree-
ment, is alleged to prohibit the employer from acting in
that manner.
A labor contract’s management rights clause, such as
the one relied uopn here, simply maintains management’s
state law discretion over certain areas of its business, a
discretion that nonunion employers enjoy without regard
to any collective bargaining agreement. A management
rights clause, in other words, does not create any rights
the employer does not have as a matter of state law. That
being so, there is plainly no federalism reason why an
employer covered by a management rights clause should
be able to exercise this discretion in a manner that, as a
matter of state law, is generally considered “outrageous
and intolerable”, when nothing in the agreement requires
that the employer so behave."
To preempt state law intentional infliction causes of ac-
tion simply because the applicable labor contract does not
forbid management’s actions vindicates no federal inter-
est. Such a rule does nothing but provide an unmerited
advantage to employers covered by collective bargaining
agreements over employers who have no such agreement
that all that was necessary was a bench announcement of the ruling.
Pet. App. 35a-39a.
11 This is not to say that the employer should not be permitted to
offer its argument that the fact that a labor contract permits the
challenged behavior demonstrates that the behavior is not sufficiently
outrageous to be tortious. That contract-based argument can be
decided under federal law, as the dissent in this case shows, with-
out throwing out the plaintiff’s state law cause of action in its
entirety. See Pet. App. 27a.
25
by permitting the former but not the latter to exercise
their management discretion in an intolerable manner
even though the State has determined to forbid all em-
ployers from so doing.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons state above, this Petition for a Writ of
Certiorari should be granted.
Respectfully submitted,
THOMAS H. ROBERTS
2nd Floor, Suite A
33 S. 13th Street
Richmond, VA 23219
MARSHA S. BERZON
177 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
LAURENCE GOLD
(Counsel of Record)
815 16th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 637-5390
This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.