Leonidas - UPDATE
September 4, 2015
West Merger Committee Update
Earlier today, the SLI arbitration panel issued a Decision and Order denying the East Pilots Seniority Integration Committee's ("EPSIC") request to delay commencement of the arbitration hearings. The full text of the Decision and Order is as follows:
DECISION AND ORDER
Having considered the Motion to Postpone the Hearings filed by the East Pilots SIC, as well as the positions advanced in response thereto by the West Pilots SIC, the American Airlines Pilots SIC, APA, and the Company, the Board finds that no compelling good cause has been shown at this time to postpone the start of the scheduled hearings in this matter, as set forth in the Board's July 5th Order. The Motion to Postpone is, therefore, denied.
Should circumstances change such that compelling good cause to alter the schedule exists at some later point in the process, the Board reserves the right to revisit the issue at that time, either in response to a Motion or sua sponte.
This will confirm our understanding that, pursuant to the existing procedural arrangements, the East Pilots SIC will present their cases in chief first, followed by the West Pilots SIC, the AA Pilots SIC, and finally the Company. The July 5, 2015 Order noted the possibility of changing the order of presentation, but the Board is not persuaded that compelling good cause has heretofor been shown to do so.
The Ground Rules Agreement requires that expert witnesses be identified and CVs provided 30 days prior to the start of the hearings (which would have been August 30th), but if that has not been done (which the Board believes to be the case), then a date to do so is to be set promptly after our ruling. The Board directs such identification to be made by each Party and communicated to all Parties by close of business on or before Tuesday, September 8, 2015.
Finally, this will reconfirm that all Parties are expected no later than Tuesday [we believe the Panel means Saturday], September 19, 2015 to docket and exchange position statements, witness lists, and proposed exhibits in accord with Article IV. of the Procedural Ground Rules Agreement and, to the extent that the Parties have not already done so, to provide disclosure of any expert witnesses . The Board asks that to facilitate our review of these materials, Mr. Myers send to the Board by overnight delivery, USB drives with all of the prehearing filings once they have been received (which should be, as indicated, no later than September 19, 2015).
This Order will remain in effect except insofar as amended or withdrawn.
Issued this 4th Day of September, 2015.
/s/ M. David Vaughn
M. David Vaughn
Arbitrator
On Behalf of the Panel
We look forward to communicating regularly in the coming weeks as the SLI process finally gets underway.
West Merger Committee
Sincerely,
The West Merger Committee
David Braid Mark Burman Johan de Vicq
Eric Ferguson Jeff O'Connell Russ Payne
Jim Van Sickle Mitch Vasin Roger Velez