Olson v. Bemis Co., Inc., No. 14-3563 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseOlson worked for Bemis at its Neenah, Wisconsin factory, and was a member of the Union. He was injured on the job and later fired. The Union filed a grievance on Olson’s behalf as permitted under its collective bargaining agreement. Bemis and the Union entered into a settlement under which Bemis agreed to pay Olson $20,000 in exchange for a waiver of all legal claims against the company. Olson did not accept the deal and sued Bemis and the Union, challenging his discharge and the legitimacy of the settlement. He lost on summary judgment. Olson later filed a second suit against Bemis and the Union, this time in state court, arguing that if the settlement was a valid contract, he was entitled to the $20,000 payout. The defendants removed the case. The district court held that it had federal-question jurisdiction over Olson’s state-law claims, which were preempted by the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 185(a), then dismissed for failure to state any valid claim. The Seventh CIrcuit affirmed. Olson breached the waiver-of-claims clause in the settlement agreement by filing his first suit against Bemis, so the company had no obligation to pay him.
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