American President Lines, Ltd. v. ILWU, No. 11-36080 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseThis case arose from a dispute between the parties over who could claim certain longshore work handling cargo at the Port of Seward, Alaska. At issue on appeal was whether Section 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. 187, permitted an action challenging the union's conduct at the arbitration when plaintiff had admittedly failed to challenge the arbitration award itself in court under Section 301 of the LMRA. The court reversed the district court's dismissal for lack of statutory standing because nothing in section 303 precluded plaintiffs to first exhaust a petition to vacate the arbitration award before they could claim section 303's remedy. Nothing in section 303 barred an employer - whether primary or neutral - from seeking compensatory damages for a union's alleged unfair labor practice, even if that practice occurred during arbitration.
Court Description: Labor Law. The panel reversed the district court’s dismissal for lack of statutory standing of an employer’s action seeking damages under § 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act for unfair labor practices allegedly committed by a union at arbitration in violation of § 8(b)(4)(ii)(A) and (B) of the National Labor Relations Act, and remanded. The panel held that, even though the employer did not exhaust a petition to vacate the arbitration award under § 301 of the Act, nothing in § 303 precluded the employer’s action for damages. The panel held that, whether it considered the employer as either a neutral or primary employer, the employer sufficiently alleged that it had suffered damages by reason of the union’s alleged unfair labor practices. The panel held that the employer had satisfied every statutory requirement to establish standing under § 303.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.