Judge overturns FedEx pilots' award
Monday December 6, 3:06 pm Eastern Time
NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A Tennessee judge overturned a jury verdict that had awarded 10 Federal Express Corp. pilots $3.59 million over an alleged breach of a contract's seniority rules, a FedEx spokesman said Monday.
''We've very pleased,'' Jesse Bunn, a spokesman for the Memphis-based company, a unit of FDX Corp. (NYSE:FDX - news), said in a telephone interview.
The 10 pilots were among more than 150 who sued after FedEx acquired Flying Tigers, an international air freight company, in 1989, which started a seniority battle.
In a state court hearing, Judge Walter L. Evans Friday read a 28-page, handwritten opinion that overturned the jury's October 14 verdict.
The earlier verdict found that FedEx had breached a contract created by a section in the employee handbook promising the pilots would keep seniority if the company purchased another cargo airline.
''He ruled that FedEx did not breach its contract ... and he ruled that the pilots did not suffer any damages,'' Bunn said.
He added that Evans' decision said that some FedEx pilots' pay increased after the merger because FedEx was operating more flights.
Robert L. J. Spence Jr., the Memphis lawyer for some of the pilots, said in a telephone interview that the group's attorneys will appeal Evans' decision to the Tennessee Court of Appeals as soon as he signs a written opinion, probably this week.
''We won round one, and they won round two, and round three is coming up next,'' said Spence. He predicted the appeals court would hear the case next summer.
Evans' decision affects 10 pilots who were the first to go to trial among about 150 to 160 who sued FedEx. The pilots charged that an arbitrator's merged seniority list disrupted the careers and pay opportunities of many FedEx pilots who dropped in seniority below Flying Tiger pilots after the merger.
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