FedEx Letter Brings Libel Suit
by Jacqueline Marino
A FORMER FEDEX PILOT WHO WAS a vocal member of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), is suing members of the current union for allegedly libeling him in a letter to FedEx management.
In a February 16, 1996, letter sent to CEO Fred Smith and other FedEx executives, one union member's wife asserted that Claude Barnhart, a 22-year FedEx employee, was "unbalanced," "mentally unstable," and harbored "a deep-seated malevolence," among other charges.
"This thing about labeling someone crazy. This is why there's no way I can get another flying job," Barnhart says.
Along with the letter, Barnhart says the woman sent FedEx executives copies of his CompuServe messages from an online forum of ALPA, the former pilots' union. In the colorful Internet messages, Barnhart derides some of his fellow pilots as "scabs" who crossed the "invisible picket line" after receiving a directive not to fly under certain circumstances from the national ALPA. In court documents, FedEx says the Internet messages were legally obtained.
In a previous lawsuit filed against FedEx in U.S. District Court last spring, Barnhart asserts the company suspended him without pay for communicating such pro-union sentiments. FedEx later fired him, he says, for refusing to submit to a psychiatric exam. Last April, however, a medical doctor said Barnhart was physically and psychologically competent to fly commercial jets.
In October 1996, the independent FedEx Pilots Association (FPA) unseated ALPA as the pilots' collective bargaining organization. The national ALPA angered many pilots in 1995 when it printed negative advertisements about FedEx in some national newspapers.
On Monday, FPA president Michael Akin said the organization had not formally received Barnhart's complaint, which was filed in Circuit Court February 13th. But Akin says he considers Barnhart's accusations "frivolous and without merit."
Barnhart seeks restitution on four counts altogether, for invasion of privacy, defamation/libel, and two counts of breach of contract. He has asked for consequential and punitive damages and attorneys' fees in excess of $31 million.
The suit against FedEx is currently pending. Spokeswoman Darlene Faquin says the company has no further comment.
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