George R. Williams v. Pacific Maritime Association

On Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing.

PER CURIAM.

Counsel for the employers and counsel for the union have each filed petitions for a rehearing. An examination of the petitions indicates a misunderstanding of the reach of this court’s opinion. As we read the petitions, we gather that they are based upon an assumption that this court has made findings and conclusions leading to the ultimate determination of the rights of the parties. As an examination of the opinion will disclose, it is limited to a disapproval of the summary judgment entered in the court below in view of our holding that the evidence received by the trial court suggests that were the case fully heard and the evidence available received, the appellants might well be entitled to recover.

Both petitions seem to assume that in dealing with the union’s duty of fair representation we have held that any discrimination is sufficient to make a case against the union. The argument is that we neglected to note that the discrimination must be of “hostile or invidious” nature. This is a misconstruction of our opinion.

The opinion notes what the allegations were: “It is alleged that these new rules were arbitrary, not reasonably relevant to the treatment afforded Class B longshoremen; they were capricious, arbitrary and unfair, particularly as they were applied retroactively and to conduct that was not a violation of any rule *943when it occurred; and that they were applied discriminatorily against plaintiffs.” 1 Further along, the opinion again notes the allegations of the complaint: “The complaint attacks the alleged new rules as arbitrary, not reasonably relevant to the determination of which Class B longshoremen should be promoted to Class A; that they were irrelevant and capricious in determining who should be deregistered; * * This was followed by an extensive quotation from the complaint itself alleging that the rules applied were “arbitrary and unfair” and “arbitrarily and capriciously penalizing conduct” retroactively. Our conclusion was that the determinations of the contentions of the parties would be properly for the trial court after receipt of evidence.

We think that a.reexamination of our opinion will disclose that it does not foreclose the parties from a complete hearing of their several contentions upon the trial on remand.

The petitions for rehearing are denied.

. This is substantially the language used in Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842, where in- describing the “duty of fair representation”, the Court uses the words “arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bád faith.”