Bruce Beckington v. American Airlines, Inc.
926 F.3d 595
| 9th Cir. | 2019Background
- The Railway Labor Act (RLA) gives unions exclusive bargaining authority for a craft and creates a judicially implied duty for unions to represent all bargaining-unit members fairly.
- After a 2005 merger and subsequent disputes, an arbitration (the Nicolau Award) produced an integrated seniority list viewed as favorable to West Pilots; East Pilots later formed USAPA and repudiated ALPA’s support for Nicolau.
- USAPA negotiated Paragraph 10(h) into a merger MOU, effectively preventing the Nicolau Award from being implemented; West Pilots sued USAPA for breach of the duty of fair representation and appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which held USAPA breached that duty.
- A later McCaskill-Bond arbitration declined to implement the Nicolau Award; West Pilots then sued US Airways/American alleging the carrier “colluded” with USAPA in breaching its duty and sought damages under the RLA.
- The district court dismissed the claim for failure to plead causation and insufficient allegations of collusion; the Ninth Circuit reviewed whether a standalone RLA claim against an employer for colluding with a union exists.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether employees may sue an employer under the RLA for "colluding" with a union's breach of the duty of fair representation | Beckington: the RLA permits a judicially-created cause of action holding carriers secondarily liable when they collude with a union's breach | American: the RLA contains no text or framework creating employer liability for a union's breach; employers have no duty to represent individual employees | Court: No. The RLA does not create a standalone collusion-based employer liability; claim dismissed |
| Whether courts should import a "collusion" theory from hybrid cases to create substantive liability | Plaintiffs: analogize to hybrid suits and prior uses of "collusion" to justify employer liability | American: hybrid "collusion" references concern jurisdictional joinder, not a source of substantive liability | Court: Rejected analogy—hybrid suits permit joinder for jurisdictional reasons but do not create employer liability absent an independent breach by employer |
| Whether any RLA provision prohibits an employer from participating in union conduct that harms some employees | Plaintiffs: carrier's participation in drafting Paragraph 10(h) and failing to police USAPA suffices | American: RLA imposes employer duties (e.g., noninterference), but not a duty to protect particular employees from union representation decisions | Court: No statutory prohibition; absent an express statutory duty, courts may not judicially impose secondary liability |
| Whether prior precedent (e.g., United) supports a freestanding collusion cause of action | Plaintiffs: cite United and a few district courts that recognized collusion claims | American: those decisions are unmoored from the RLA and inconsistent | Court: Declined to follow United; found its collusion theory unsound and lacking a coherent standard |
Key Cases Cited
- Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R.R. Co., 323 U.S. 192 (establishing union's duty of fair representation under RLA)
- Int’l Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. Foust, 442 U.S. 42 (recognizing judicially implied cause of action against unions for breach of duty)
- Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171 (defining breach-of-duty standards: arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith)
- Burlington N. R.R. Co. v. Bhd. of Maint. of Way Emps., 481 U.S. 429 (describing RLA's framework and purpose)
- DelCostello v. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151 (describing hybrid suits and separate origins of employer and union liability)
- Addington v. US Airline Pilots Ass’n, 791 F.3d 967 (9th Cir. 2015) (Ninth Circuit holding USAPA breached duty by inserting Paragraph 10(h))
- United Indep. Flight Officers v. United Air Lines, Inc., 756 F.2d 1274 (7th Cir. 1985) (court suggested employer liability for "collusion," but Ninth Circuit declined to follow this theory)