McCain v. Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828

McCain v. Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828
Case number: 2:19-cv-00228
Status: Terminated
Important dates
Filed: January 10, 2019 District court decision: July 22, 2019 Appeals court decision:
District court outcome
The matter was settled out of court, and the parties dismissed the suit.

This case is one of over a hundred public-sector union lawsuits Ballotpedia tracked following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME. These pages were updated through February 2023 and may not reflect subsequent case developments. For more information about Ballotpedia's coverage of public-sector union policy in the United States, click here. Contact our team to suggest an update.

McCain v. Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828 was terminated on July 22, 2019, from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The plaintiff argued that union policies restricting membership resignation to 15-day opt-out windows violated his First Amendment rights under Janus v. AFSCME.

HIGHLIGHTS

The parties to the suit: The plaintiff was Michael McCain. The defendants were the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828, AFL-CIO, Greg Gillespie, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

The issue: Can unions restrict membership resignations to 15-day “window periods”?

The presiding judge(s): Josephine Staton was assigned to the case. Staton was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama (D).

The outcome: The matter was settled out of court, and the parties dismissed the suit.

Procedural history

The plaintiff was Michael McCain. He was represented by the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation and Smith And Myers LLP. The defendants were the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828, AFL-CIO, Greg Gillespie, and the American Federation of Teachers. The Ventura County Federation of College Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers were represented by Lawrence R Rosenzweig PC and Altshuler Berzon LLP. Greg Gillespie was represented by Parker And Covert LLP.

The plaintiff in McCain v. Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828 first filed his lawsuit on January 10, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. McCain alleged that he was prevented from resigning union membership outside of a 15-day opt-out window and argued that this violated his First Amendment rights under Janus v. AFSCME.

• January 10, 2019: McCain filed a complaint against the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828, AFL-CIO, Greg Gillespie, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Ventura County Community College District.
• April 1, 2019: McCain filed an amended complaint. The Ventura County Community College District was dismissed from the suit by the plaintiff.
• April 15, 2019: Defendants The American Federation of Teachers, and Ventura County Federation of College Teachers filed an answer to the complaint.
• April 30, 2019: Defendant Greg Gillespie filed an answer to the complaint.
• July 3, 2019: McCain and the defendants filed a joint motion to dismiss the case. The parties reached a settlement after the union changed the policies challenged in the suit, providing McCain the relief he sought and making his claims moot.
• July 22, 2019: The court dismissed the suit.

For a list of available case documents, click here.

Decision

On July 22, 2019, Judge Josephine Staton dismissed the case. Staton wrote the following in the court's opinion:

“	Having duly considered the Joint Motion and Stipulation of the Parties, the Court has determined that: With good cause having been shown, It is hereby ordered that Plaintiff’s individual claims in this action be dismissed, with prejudice. Because no class was certified, the putative class claims are dismissed without prejudice.	”
—Judge Josephine Staton

Josephine Staton was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama (D).

Legal context

Janus v. AFSCME (2018)

See also: Janus v. AFSCME

On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a 5-4 decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (Janus v. AFSCME), ruling that public-sector unions cannot compel non-member employees to pay fees to cover the costs of non-political union activities.

This decision overturned precedent established in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education in 1977. In Abood, the high court held that it was not a violation of employees' free-speech and associational rights to require them to pay fees to support union activities from which they benefited (e.g., collective bargaining, contract administration, etc.). These fees were commonly referred to as agency fees or fair-share fees.

Justice Samuel Alito authored the opinion for the court majority in Janus, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch. Alito wrote, "Abood was poorly reasoned. It has led to practical problems and abuse. It is inconsistent with other First Amendment cases and has been undermined by more recent decisions. Developments since Abood was handed down have shed new light on the issue of agency fees, and no reliance interests on the part of public-sector unions are sufficient to justify the perpetuation of the free speech violations that Abood has countenanced for the past 41 years. Abood is therefore overruled."

Related litigation

To view a complete list of the public-sector labor lawsuits Ballotpedia tracked between 2019 and 2023, click here.

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Number of federal lawsuits by circuit

Between 2019 and 2023, Ballotpedia tracked 191 federal lawsuits related to public-sector labor laws. The chart below depicts the number of suits per federal judicial circuit (i.e., the jurisdictions in which the suits originated).