James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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HEARING ON MOTIONS FOR ABATEMENT, DAMAGES, ETC.

DATE: Non Hearing, per Theresa Lam, 2-12-7

JUDGE: David A. Ezra, per Theresa Lam, 2-12-7

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

RICHARD BLOCH

Address to be determined.
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July 15, 2005

Aloha Airlines sues its own pilots,
denies 'outsourcing'

By Prabha Natarajan, Pacific Business News

Aloha Airlines is suing its own pilots, claiming it didn't outsource their work to lower-paid pilots at Island Air.

The airline's lawsuit asks the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to nullify the relief Aloha's pilots were promised in April when an arbitrator sided with their union, the Air Line Pilots Association.

Aloha argues that the arbitrator was wrong in his finding that the airline didn't actually sell Island Air in 2003 but rather leased it, and therefore violated its collective-bargaining agreement with the pilots.

Aloha also contends that the arbitrator overstepped his jurisdiction.

"We need to set the arbitrator's decision aside and revisit the issue in the bankruptcy court," said David Farmer, attorney for Aloha Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 30, 2004.

Arbitrator Richard Bloch ruled in April that Aloha violated the protective-scope clause of its collective-bargaining agreement with the pilots' union. The clause stipulates that Aloha pilots get preference in flying for Aloha and its affiliates, and that as long as Island Air is an affiliate of Aloha it can't operate flights between the principal airports of Lihue, Kahului, Honolulu, Kona and Hilo.

"Island Air continues to fly for Aloha," Bloch said in his ruling.

If the ruling stands, Aloha would have to compensate its pilots for the loss of work that went to Island Air pilots. Island Air flies 83 daily flights, many of them to the five principal Hawaii airports.

"The remedy phase will have a substantial impact on Aloha's financials and diminish its income," Farmer said.

The highest hourly wage of an Aloha pilot on an interisland flight is $109.09, compared with $108 for Island Air pilots.

Island Air recently raised the wages of all its employees by about 30 percent while Aloha negotiated a wage cut of about 20 percent.

The lawsuit filed last week is the latest step in negotiations between Aloha and the pilots' union, following the arbitration ruling in April. At no point has either of the parties involved Island Air in the dispute.

As part of the remedy, the pilots have asked the airline to stop parceling off its passengers onto Island Air flights as part of a code-share agreement with the commuter airline. Aloha maintains that it can't control the routes Island Air flies because the commuter airline is a separate entity.

www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2005/07/18/story3.html

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January 4, 2007

Mediator to join Comair, union talks

Business Courier of Cincinnati

Comair and the union representing its pilots hope to break their contract logjam with the help of a mediator.

The regional airline and the Air Line Pilots Association said Thursday that they will participate in mediation, and that private mediator Richard Bloch will join the negotiation process.

Bloch will serve as a facilitator and cannot impose changes or making binding decisions, both sides said in separate news releases....

Erlanger-based Comair has been trying to negotiate a pilots contract that incorporates pay and benefits cuts. The regional airline is trying to restructure in line with parent Delta Air Lines' Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

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March 9, 2006

Eagles' Deactivation of Owens Stands

By Mark Maske, Washington Post

GRAPEVINE, Tex.--The NFL Players Association was unable to overturn wide receiver Terrell Owens's late-season deactivation by the Philadelphia Eagles when it took a case before an arbitrator. But it has made certain that no player will be punished in the same way in the future.

A provision in the six-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement between the players' union and the NFL's franchise owners, which was ratified by the owners here Wednesday night, prohibits a team from deactivating a player for disciplinary reasons.

"We essentially reversed the T.O. decision for any future cases," Richard Berthelsen, the union's general counsel, said from Hawaii, where he and other union officials are attending meetings of the players' executive board.

Union officials were upset when arbitrator Richard Bloch ruled in favor of the league and the Eagles in the Owens case. They exercised their right to veto the continued use of Bloch by the league as an arbitrator, and they said they would address the issues raised in the case in their labor negotiations with the owners. Now they have.

The Eagles suspended Owens for four games without pay this past season for conduct detrimental to the team, then deactivated him with pay for the final five games of the season. The union contended in its case before Bloch that the deactivation violated the collective bargaining agreement, which listed a four-game suspension without pay as the maximum punishment for conduct detrimental to the team.

But Bloch ruled that the Eagles' actions were justified and Coach Andy Reid had the right to deactivate Owens if he wanted to do so.

The new labor deal also prohibits teams from forcing players to return portions of their signing bonuses for misbehavior.

The union's leaders had been concerned about the growing frequency of clauses in players' contracts compelling them to return signing-bonus money to their clubs for transgressions ranging from failing drug tests to skipping offseason workouts to participating in recreational activities considered dangerous. Under the labor extension, players can be forced to return bonus money only for a refusal to play, such as a retirement or holdout, according to Berthelsen. The labor deal contains standard language regarding such clauses that will be placed into all players' contracts, Berthelsen said....

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Richard Bloch is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, political and personal relationships with David Farmer, William S. Richardson, Judge Alan Kay, Judge David Ezra, Ray Fuqua, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Daniel Case, Steve Case, Stephanie Case, The Nature Conservancy, Judge Barry Kurren, Faye Kurren, John Marshall, Aloha Airlines, Colbert Matsumoto, Jeff Watanabe, Earl Anzai, Lyn Anzai, Linda Lingle, Bob Awana, Judge Michael Seabright, John McCain, George Wackenhut, Richard Helms, Barack Obama, Henry Paulson, James Nicholson, Carol Muranaka, Larry Price, Howard Luke, GECC, JAIMS, Honolulu Memorial Park, John Waihee, Steven Guttman, Mary Lou Woo, James Aiona, Judge Samuel King, Randall Roth, Jerrold Gubin, Cutter Ford, Governor Linda Lingle, June Jones, Larry Price, Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), Hawaiian Airlines, Joshua Gotbaum, Diane Plotts, Sukamto Sia, Ben Cayetano, George Ariyoshi, Walter Dods, First Hawaiian Bank, Cobert Kalama, Dee Jay Mailer, Evan Dobelle, University of Hawaii, Judge Robert Faris, Judge Lloyd King, James Wriston, Judge Ronald Moon, Gensiro Kawamoto, Mark Hemmeter, Peter Savio, Rosemary Fazio, Lawrence Johnson, Kirk Caldwell, Donna Tanoue, Bank of Hawaii, Harold Johnston, Grant Johnston, David Banmiller, Michael Tanoue, Stanford Carr, Wally Chin, Honolulu Theater for Youth, David Black, The Consuelo Zobel Foundation, Ron Rewald, Evan Dobelle, Lamar Hunt, Barron Hilton, The Gregory Foundation, Greg Dunn, Rocco Sansone, Marsh & McLennan, Inc., Nainoa Thompson, Kessner Duca Umebayashi Bain & Matsunaga, Judge Susan Mollway, Mark McConaghy, Joshua Bolten, Paul Steven Singerman, Samuel E. Poole II, WCI Communities, Al Hoffman, Jr, Delta Airlines , and other entities to be named upon discovery.