US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
TEXTRON LYCOMING RECIPROCATING ENGINE DIVISION, AVCO CORP. v. UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, ET AL. 523 U.S. 653
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Syllabus
TEXTRON LYCOMING RECIPROCATING ENGINE DIVISION, AVCO CORP. v. UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, ET AL.
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 97-463. Argued February 23, 1998-Decided May 18, 1998
Petitioner Textron Lycoming Reciprocating Engine Division (Textron) and respondents-an international union and one of its locals (hereinafter Union), which represented approximately 500 Textron employees-were parties to a collective-bargaining agreement that prohibited the Union from striking for any reason and required Textron to notify the Union before entering into any agreement to "subcontract out" work that would otherwise be performed by Union members. Mter Textron announced plans to subcontract out enough work to cause roughly onehalf of the Union members to lose their jobs, the Union filed the present complaint, which, inter alia, alleged that Textron had fraudulently induced the Union to sign the collective-bargaining agreement, and sought damages and a declaratory judgment that the agreement was voidable at the Union's option. The complaint invoked § 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act as the basis of federal subject-matter jurisdiction, but did not allege that either party had ever violated the terms of the collective-bargaining agreement. The District Court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, concluding that the cause of action alleged did not come within § 301(a). The Third Circuit reversed.
Held: Because the Union's complaint alleges no violation of the collectivebargaining agreement, neither this Court nor the federal courts below have subject-matter jurisdiction under § 301(a), which confers jurisdiction only over "[sJuits for violation of contracts." While a federal court may, in the course of resolving a dispute concerning alleged violation of a collective-bargaining agreement, adjudicate the affirmative defense that the contract was invalid, see Kaiser Steel Corp. v. Mullins, 455 U. S. 72, 85-86, it has no jurisdiction to resolve such a contention independently of, rather than ancillary to, its power to adjudicate "[sJuits for violation of contracts." Here, since the Union neither alleges that Textron has violated the contract, nor seeks declaratory relief from its own alleged violation, § 301(a) jurisdiction does not lie. The Union's
654 TEXTRON LYCOMING RECIPROCATING ENGINE DIV., AVCO CORP. v. AUTOMOBILE WORKERS
reliance upon the fact that it seeks a declaration of voidability under the federal Declaratory Judgment Act rests on several less than certain assumptions, Skelly Oil Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 339 U. S. 667, distinguished, but is in any event inadequate because there is no indication that either party has any interest in the contract's voidability, and hence no case or controversy on this issue giving the Union access to federal courts. Pp. 656-662.
117 F.3d 119, reversed.
SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and STEVENS, O'CONNOR, KENNEDY, SOUTER, THOMAS, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 662. BREYER, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, post, p. 662.
Timothy B. Dyk argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Andrew M. Kramer and Daniel H. Bromberg.
Stephen A. Yokich argued the cause for respondents.
With him on the brief were Daniel W Sherrick, Marsha S. Berzon, James B. Coppess, and Laurence Gold.*
JUSTICE SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court.
The sole question presented for review is whether federal courts have subject-matter jurisdiction of this case under § 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 61 Stat. 156, 29 U. S. C. § 185(a).
I
Petitioner, Textron Lycoming Reciprocating Engine Division (Textron), employs at its Williamsport, Pennsylvania, plant approximately 500 members of respondents, the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America and its Local 187 (hereinafter UAW or Union). From April 1, 1994, to April 1, 1997, Textron and the Union were parties to a collective-bargaining agreement that pro-
*Solicitor General Waxman, Deputy Solicitor General Wallace, Lisa Schiavo Blatt, Frederick L. Feinstein, Linda Sher, Norton J. Come, and John H. Ferguson filed a brief for the United States as amicus curiae urging affirmance.
