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Batson v. Shiflett3/12/1992
of no § 301 preemption. Originally filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, this action was removed to federal court by the defendants on the ground of federal question jurisdiction. Shortly thereafter, Shiflett moved to remand the action to the state court. In a memorandum opinion dated July 8, 1986, Judge James R. Miller, Jr. ruled that on the face of the complaint removal was not appropriate under § 301. Although Flyer No. 3 accused Shiflett of committing the "crimes of conspiracy, perjury, falsification of records, illegal contract ratification and violation of both the National [Union's] Constitution and By-laws of your Union," before Judge Miller issued his opinion, Shiflett filed an amended complaint, which asserted as the bases of defamation only the accusations of the "crimes of conspiracy, perjury, falsification of records," eliminating "illegal contract ratification," apparently to avoid § 301 jurisdiction appearing on the face of the complaint. At trial, Shiflett did not raise or argue "illegal contract ratification" as a basis for defamation. While Flyer No. 3 was admitted into evidence in its entirety, petitioners never objected, nor did they request that the court excise any language. They cannot now object to its admission in its entirety or contend that this somehow prejudiced them. Md.Rule 8-131(a). Further, the National Union and Batson argue that a tort action is preempted where its resolution would require a state court to hear and consider the same evidence previously presented and resolved in a labor proceeding. The Supreme Court has directly rejected this argument. In Lingle v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc., 486 U.S. 399, 108 S.Ct. 1877, 100 L.Ed.2d 410 (1988), the Supreme Court held that a wrongful discharge action initiated by an employee covered by a contractually established grievance procedure was not preempted by federal labor law. The Court explained:
" ven if dispute resolution pursuant to a collective-bargaining agreement on the one hand, and state law, on the other, would require addressing precisely the same set of facts, as long as the state-law claim can be resolved without interpreting the agreement itself, the claim is "independent" of the agreement for § 301 pre-emption purposes."
486 U.S. at 409-10, 108 S.Ct. at 1883, 100 L.Ed.2d at 421 (footnote omitted). Thus, the Lingle Court made clear that mere parallelism between the facts and issues to be addressed under a state law claim and those to be addressed under § 301 does not render the state law analysis dependent on the labor contract. See Finch v. Holladay-Tyler Printing, Inc., 322 Md. 197, 204, 586 A.2d 1275, 1279 (1991).
Second, assuming that it was necessary for the state trial court to consult the National Union's Constitution and Bylaws, such action is only of peripheral concern to federal labor law. Contrary to petitioners' contention, the jury was never asked to determine the validity of a collective bargaining agreement or whether an illegal contract ratification occurred. While petitioners referred to the National Union's Constitution in an effort to justify their statements in Flyer No. 3, the role of any labor contract in this dispute was, at most, tangential. This conclusion is borne out by the caselaw.
In Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985), rather than utilizing an established grievance procedure, a union member brought a tort suit against his employer in state court, alleging bad faith in the handling of his disability insurance claim authorized by a collective bargaining agreement. The Supreme Court concluded that the claim was "substanti
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