Melvin R. Manning, Richmond, Va. (F. William Kirby, Jr., McCaul, Grisby, Pearsall, Manning & Davis, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellee.

Before SPROUSE and CHAPMAN, Circuit Judges, and HARGROVE, United States District Judge for the District of Maryland, Sitting by Designation.

HARGROVE, District Judge.

This is an appeal from the decision of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia at Danville which granted the appellants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment.1 By granting this motion in part, the court found that the arbitration decision concerning this case was incorrect. Although the appellants did succeed in having their motion for partial summary granted, they are appealing from the court's order, since Mr. Otis Burcham, an appellant, felt that he was entitled to back wages for a longer period of time than the court allowed. We find that the decision of the district court was correct. Thus, we affirm.

* On February 9, 1983, the appellee, Roy Stone Transfer Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Roy Stone), filed a Bill of Complaint in the Circuit Court of Henry County, Virginia, to vacate the arbitration decision in Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Case No. 82K/1477, which was filed by the parties to this appeal. Appellants, Otis L. Burcham and Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers Local Union No. 22 removed the case to the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia at Danville and filed a counterclaim seeking enforcement of the decision and award, with interest, including punitive damages. On November 18, 1983, the defendants-appellants filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. After a hearing and consideration of supplemental memoranda filed in support of the motions submitted by all the parties, the court issued its final order sustaining the defendants' motion for summary judgment.2 It ruled that the arbitrator had erred in his decision and, that although the defendants were entitled to partial summary judgment, Otis Burcham should receive back wages for a shorter period of time than had been originally requested.

II

Roy Stone is a trucking company whose business involves the interstate and intrastate transfer of furniture and furniture products. Otis Burcham, one of the appellants, had been the chauffeur employed by Roy Stone for Galax, Virginia. Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers Local Union 22, another appellant, is a local union organization as defined in the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Section 151, et seq. which was the sole bargaining agent for Mr. Burcham's collective bargaining unit. This case arose from a labor dispute between Roy Stone and Mr. Burcham.

Mr. Burcham, who had been an employee of Roy Stone for almost twelve years, had never received any disciplinary action or had any problems at work until October 26, 1981. On that day, however, the conflict between the appellants and the appellee began as a result of a notice Roy Stone received from Vaughan Furniture Company concerning Mr. Burcham. Vaughan Furniture stated that Mr. Burcham would no longer be allowed to deliver merchandise to Vaughan's property "due to his proclivity to talk and distract Vaughan's employees". Roy Stone's personnel manager, Mr. Koontz, and the Galax terminal manager, Mr. Hankley, met with Vaughan officials on October 27, 1981, to discuss the situation. After the meeting Mr. Koontz informed Mr. Burcham that he was relieved from duty at the Galax terminal. In 1981, Vaughan Furniture constituted 90% of Roy Stone's business in the Galax, Virginia area. Since Burcham could not deliver supplies to Vaughan, in effect, there was no work for him in the Galax, Virginia area. Mr. Burcham notified his union representative, Mr. Webb, that he was not working at Galax and he began to collect unemployment compensation benefits.

During the next few months, Roy Stone tried to persuade the Vaughan Furniture Company to allow Burcham back on its property. These efforts were unsuccessful, therefore, Mr. Burcham remained unemployed.

On January 9, 1982, Roy Stone, offered appellant employment at its terminal in Martinsville, Virginia. Appellant refused this offer of employment stating that "he was originally hired for work in Galax and he would only work in Galax".

An arbitration hearing was held on December 9, 1982. At that hearing, the above facts were considered along with the collective bargaining agreement between the appellee company and the appellant local union which had been in effect from May 16, 1979, to May 15, 1982. In his decision of January 12, 1983, the arbitrator found that Mr. Burcham had never received a written discharge notice on October 27, 1981 and further found that Burcham had been wrongfully discharged. Roy Stone was directed "to reinstate Otis Burcham with full seniority, to make him whole for all wages lost, and to make contributions to the health and welfare fund which would have been made but for his termination". The arbitrator's reasoning for his decision is interesting, in that it acknowledges that Roy Stone was in a difficult situation due to Vaughan's action in ordering Burcham off its premises.

Due to declining business in the Galax area, the Roy Stone terminal was closed on April 29, 1983.

On March 11, 1984, the District Court rendered its order upholding the decision of the arbitrator only for the period between October 27, 1981 and late January, 1982. The appellant had refused another position with Roy Stone in Martinsville, Virginia in January, 1982.

III

The standard of review which courts should apply to arbitration cases is stated in United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel and Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S. Ct. 1358, 4 L. Ed. 2d 1424 (1960). In Enterprise, an employer attempted to have the district court overturn an arbitration decision rendered pursuant to a collective bargaining clause which required final and binding arbitration. Justice Douglas stated that