Settlement Agreement Reached with ALPA
 

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT REACHED WITH ALPA

The four named plaintiffs in Valdez v. ALPA reached a Settlement Agreement with ALPA National on May 12, 2017, and pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure all differences are fully resolved and the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice on May 15, 2017.

We cannot comment further on the Settlement Agreement other than to state this was not the ultimate result we had worked for countless hours and months to achieve, and we believe it was in the best interests of the contributors and FedEx pilot group we strove to represent. We believe in the end ALPA now knows its members are watching.

On June 12, 2017, we announced on FedEx Pilots v. ALPA that a Settlement Agreement had been reached will ALPA National and that a statement from the plaintiffs would follow.

On June 20, 2017, the FDX/ALPA MEC published a statement about the Settlement:

• Plaintiffs -- 4 FedEx pilots -- claimed that ALPA made misrepresentations regarding certain aspects of the CBA and that without them, the CBA would not have been ratified. ALPA has denied those allegations and believes them to be without merit.

• The District Court determined that the case could not proceed as a class action, leaving the suit between only the four plaintiffs and ALPA. The Court of Appeals refused to consider an appeal from that decision denying class certification.

• ALPA believes that it has strong defenses to the claims of the four plaintiffs, but has determined that further litigation at this stage would entail considerable time and resources better spent on more important issues: focusing on moving forward to best protect and enhance the interests and concerns of the pilot group.

We will not comment on the FDX/ALPA MEC’s statement, but we will clarify that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied our petition for immediate review of the denial of class certification, but did not deny our right to appeal the class certification after final judgement. The Sixth Circuit stated in their denial order:

"The plaintiffs have not demonstrated that the posture of the case supports an immediate appeal or that the denial of class certification cannot be reviewed on appeal from a final judgment."



A concurrent DFR lawsuit against ALPA, filed by former Continental pilots in 2014, was decided by Summary Judgement in July 2016 in ALPA’s favor.



Civil Action No. H-14-0451. | CARR v. AIRLINE... | Leagle.com

We also believe many FedEx pilots have become "disconnected" from the union and more involvement is vitally needed in the future in order for FedEx pilots to achieve an industry leading contract in all sections.

LAWSUIT RECAP

April 19, 2016: Four named plaintiffs file a Class Action Complaint in the Western District of Tennessee against ALPA for its alleged breaches of Duty of Fair Representation in connection with the ratification of the 2015 Tentative Agreement.

June 13, 2016: ALPA responds to Complaint.

July 12, 2016: Plaintiffs file Motion for Class Certification.

August 30 - September 1, 2016: Four named Plaintiffs are deposed by ALPA National in St. Louis, Missouri.

September 1, 2016: Plaintiffs complete delivery of their discovery documents to ALPA, which includes voice recordings, emails, text messages, social media posts and other documents.

October 18, 2016: Telephonic hearing for Class Certification held with Judge McCalla. ALPA opposes Class Certification.

December 14, 2016: Plaintiffs file Motion to "Stay" and discovery stops. Plaintiffs never depose any of the 15 ALPA witnesses or receive full discovery, which must include “all electronic materials, whether on ALPA or non-ALPA computers, cell phones, PDA’s, thumb drives, email servers, or other data storage devices” in accordance with ALPA’s Document Management Program.

January 9, 2017: Judge McCalla denies Class Certification, citing in part:

• Three of the named plaintiffs are not suitable class representatives because they voted “No” and thus were not affected by the alleged misrepresentations, and

• The damages are substantial enough that pilots can sue ALPA individually (The statute of limitations for pilots to sue ALPA “individually” had expired on April 20, 2016, and any pilot desiring to sue ALPA would have had to join our lawsuit).

January 24, 2017: Named plaintiffs petition the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to appeal the Class Certification Denial Order.

March 23, 2017: The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denies plaintiffs’ petition for permission for immediate appeal of Class certification, but also states the denial of class certification can still be "reviewed on appeal from a final judgement."

• The lawsuit continues active with only the four named plaintiffs.

April 11, 2017: A new trial date is set for July 29, 2018.

May 12, 2017: The four named plaintiffs reach a Settlement Agreement with ALPA National.

May 15, 2017: Judgement of Dismissal with Prejudice signed by Judge McCalla.

Sincerely,

Stephen Valdez
Jeffrey Ware
Ruben Freyre
Armando Castroverde

The following comments were posted by the now-banned “ClassActionALPA” on the dates indicated.

1) 05-09-2016
“We need your support to fund this Class Action lawsuit on behalf of all FedEx pilots! We are asking for your $500 contribution. All contributions will be kept confidential.

A bank account will be established this week to make direct deposits or transfers. Or, send contributions to:

Payable to: FedEx Pilots Action Fund, LLC

Send to: 2809 Kirby Pkwy, Suite 116
#116
Memphis TN 38119”

2) 05-09-2016
“Question 5: I’m not a named Plaintiff, so I will receive damages if they are judged or there is a settlement?

Answer: Yes - All FedEx Express pilots on the seniority list during the 2015 TA ratification are represented*. If there is a judgement or settlement for damages, all of these pilots are included.”

(*Note that this statement says that all pilots ARE represented, not “We expect all pilots to be represented after certification of class action status.”)

3) 05-10-2016
“We do have support and many pilots that have contributed.”

And just so there’s no confusion about who’s who:

4) 05-09-2016
“The information posted from "ClassActionALPA" is from the named plaintiffs; that I can verify.”
i.e. ClassActionALPA claims to be one of the 4 folks signing the OP of this thread.

Given all that as background, a couple of questions for the plaintiffs: Now that you’ve settled without attaining class action status, do “ALL FedEx pilots on the seniority list during the 2015 TA ratification” share in the settlement? Assuming that the answer to that is “no”, (and if not, why not?) then what happens to the “many” pilots who contributed to your cause? Do they share in the settlement? Failing that, since you didn't attain class action status, will their contributions be refunded?

In three years you will receive a white, postcard sized letter informing you that you are entitled to claim your $.15 resulting from this settlement. You will need to send a self addressed, return envelope with a $.49 stamp so they can mail you your check. Alternatively, you could save your net loss and just let the lawyers of this case enjoy their "win". They just bought themselves new Mercedes SUV's with "ALPAROCKS" personalized plates.

It would appear to the outside observer that the plaintiffs have taken their settlement and gone to ground.

That is sad
 

After soliciting money from the entire crew force, if that is true, that is all new low, even for a cheap pilot. Seriously.:(