Ninth Circuit Finds Track Inspector’s Negligent Mismanagement Claims Not Preempted By Railway Labor Act

The Ninth Circuit found that a railroad track inspector’s claims for negligent mismanagement against a railway company were not preempted by the Railway Labor Act.  Plaintiff, a union member subject to a collective bargaining agreement, sued the company under Montana law after he was suspended without back pay following a collision incident.  Plaintiff alleged that (1) the railway company’s mismanagement and negligence caused the collision; and that (2) the railway company mismanaged the investigation of the collision and the resulting disciplinary proceedings.

The Ninth Circuit found that while plaintiff’s challenges to the railway company’s investigation were preempted by the Railway Labor Act, his mismanagement claims concerning the collision’s cause were not.  Montana law conferred an independent right upon plaintiff to sue on the basis of negligence and mismanagement and analyzing those claims did not require the court to interpret the CBA.  Specifically, the court noted that the CBA was silent as to how the railway company should have managed plaintiff’s training, maintained safe operations on its rails, and handled claims for negligence or mismanagement.  Thus, the court found that the CBA could not govern plaintiff’s negligent mismanagement claim and, therefore, that his claim was not preempted by the Railway Labor Act.

Further, despite the railway company’s arguments to the contrary, the court also found that it was of no consequence to the preemption argument that plaintiff’s only injury from the collision was dismissal from employment.  The court noted that it was established law that an employee fired under a CBA may bring a separate, independent state law claim for wrongful discharge.  The court explained that such claims do not require any interpretation of the CBA and, therefore, are not preempted.