U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2001

Beatty v. International Union of Operating Engineers

Beatty v. International Union of Operating Engineers
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Decided December 26, 2001
22 F. App'x 876

Beatty v. International Union of Operating Engineers

Opinion of the Court

MEMORANDUM2

We affirm the district court’s judgment confirming an arbitration award.

Shank/Balfour Beatty argues that the arbitrator’s decision was contrary to the plain and unequivocal terms of the two collective bargaining agreements, and the arbitrator merely “dispense[d] his own brand of industrial justice.” United Steelworkers v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960). We agree with the district court, however, that the two contracts at issue, when read together, are ambiguous as to staffing requirements, and that the *877arbitrator’s opinion offers a plausible interpretation of them. “As bears repeating, ‘so far as the arbitrator’s decision concerns construction of the contract ’” — as it does here — “the courts have no business overruling him because their interpretation of the contract is different from his.” Hawaii Teamsters & Allied Workers Union v. United Parcel Service, 241 F.3d 1177, 1183 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting Enterprise Wheel, 363 U .S. at 599) (emphasis in original). We reject Shank’s attempt to “open a back door to judicial review of the merits of an arbitration award.” Id. at 1183.

AFFIRMED.

. This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as may be provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

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