Sever

I. OVERVIEW

Plaintiff Florian Sever (“Sever”), a former employee of Alaska Pulp Corporation (APC), brought suit against APC and a number of APC management employees (collectively, “defendants”) under 42 U.S.C. § 1985 (3), 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and under RICO. Sever alleged that the defendants had taken retaliatory actions against him after he wrote articles critical of APC and testified before Congress in a manner contrary to APC’s economic interests. Sever also brought six state law claims. The district court dismissed his RICO and section 1983 action for failure to state a claim, and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the § 1985(3) claims. The district court then dismissed the state claims without prejudice, and remanded them to state court.

Sever appeals the dismissal and grant of summary judgment. Defendants cross-appeal, claiming that because Sever’s state law claims are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the district court should have dismissed them with prejudice. We affirm the district court in all respects.

II. BACKGROUND

APC is a timber company involved in timber harvesting in the Tongass National Forest. It maintains and operates a…