Richard E. Sullivan v. Pacific and Arctic Railway and Navigation Company

Sullivan brought a common law action for wrongful discharge in the district court against his former employer, Pacific and Arctic Railway and Navigation Company [the Company], accepting the discharge as final and asking for money damages. His appeal from the summary judgment, entered by the District Court, in favor of the Company raises the issue of whether it was necessary for him, under federal or state law, to exhaust his remedies under a collective bargaining agreement before bringing suit. We conclude that exhaustion of administrative remedies was necessary and affirm the judgment.

Sullivan is a longshoreman whose labor union had a collective bargaining agreement with the Company, which is covered by the Railway Labor Act. The Company employed ten regular men and hired other men to work when regular men were off and when there was additional work. Sullivan had been a regular longshoreman but, in April of 1967, resigned from that status. Later, he was classified as an acceptable extra or casual worker. On May 14, 1968, his first day as a temporary replacement for one of the ten regular men, Sullivan refused his work assignment. The Company informed the Union of this act and…