Gibbs v. United Mine Workers of America, Civ. A. No. 3771.

• Decision Date: 18 July 1963
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 3771.
• Citation: 220 F. Supp. 871
• Parties: Paul GIBBS v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee

220 F. Supp. 871

Paul GIBBS v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA.

Civ. A. No. 3771.

United States District Court E. D. Tennessee, S. D.

July 18, 1963.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

VanDerveer, Brown & Siener, Chattanooga, Tenn., for plaintiff.

Kramer, Dye, McNabb & Greenwood, Knoxville, Tenn., for defendant.

FRANK W. WILSON, District Judge.

This case is now before the Court upon the motion of the defendant, United Mine Workers of America, for either a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial. Upon trial of the case the jury found in response to special issues that the defendant, United Mine Workers of America, hereinafter referred to as "UMW," had violated the so-called secondary boycott provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act (29 U.S.C. § 187) and had committed the tort of unlawful interference with the plaintiff's contract rights, and awarded the plaintiff compensatory and punitive damages in the total sum of $174,500. Some of the background to this lawsuit is undisputed in the record and may be stated as follows. Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company, hereinafter referred to as "Consolidated," owns extensive coal lands in the Southeastern Tennessee Coal Fields and over a period of many years has engaged both directly in the mining of coal and in the leasing of coal lands to others to mine. Prior to March 15, 1960, Consolidated had operated a mine in Marion County, Tennessee, known as the Coal Valley Mine, this mine being operated under a collective bargaining agreement with the UMW. The Coal Valley Mine was closed down by a strike upon that date when negotiation of a new collective bargaining contract failed after termination of the former contract by Consolidated in accordance with its terms.

In August of 1960 Grundy Mining Company, herein referred to as "Grundy," a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated, took steps to open new mines in the Gray's Creek Area of Marion County, Tennessee, within the general vicinity of the Coal Valley Mine and upon Consolidated coal lands. In preparation for opening these new mines Grundy agreed to employ Paul Gibbs, the plaintiff herein, as mine superintendent at a salary of $600 per month. At the same time Gibbs asked for the contract to haul the coal from the new mines at a price of 78¢ per ton and this was also agreed upon by the parties. Both the employment contract and the trucking contract were for an indefinite period. Gibbs' background was that of a coal operator and trucker.

Grundy proposed to open the new mine in the Gray's Creek Area without a contract with the UMW. Upon Monday, August 16, 1960, the first day work was scheduled to begin, Gibbs and a few others appeared for work, but picketing and a show of force took place by UMW members who were former employees of the Coal Valley Mine and no work was done. Violence or threatened violence continued the next day and all efforts by Grundy to open the mines in the Gray's Creek Area appear to have ceased after the second or third day. The picketing continued from August 1960 until the following May 1961. Gibbs drew one check of $300 under his salary agreement. He never got to haul any coal under his trucking contract with Grundy. In May of 1961 Consolidated contracted with a firm by the name of Allen & Garcia, an engineering firm, as operators to reopen the Coal Valley Mine and this was done by Allen & Garcia under a collective bargaining agreement with UMW. This lawsuit was begun in August of 1961, but to carry events down to the time of the trial, it appears that the Coal Valley Mine continued in operation by Allen & Garcia under contract with the UMW until it was closed in the early summer of 1962 when a fault in the coal seam was struck. Thereupon Allen & Garcia opened a new mine in the Gray's Creek Area and moved the Coal Valley equipment and personnel to the new mine. In September of 1962 Allen & Garcia terminated its operating contract with Consolidated and gave notice of termination of the UMW contract. Grundy thereupon took over the Gray's Creek operation, and in addition opened some seven or eight hand loading mines in the area, but did not further employ Gibbs in any of these operations.

This lawsuit was begun upon August 23, 1961, when the plaintiff, Gibbs, filed suit herein against the UMW seeking to recover compensatory and punitive damages and alleging that UMW had violated Section 303 of the Taft-Hartley Act (29 U.S.C. § 187) and was guilty of a common law conspiracy aimed at him. The case was tried by the plaintiff upon the theory that the UMW had directed its unlawful activities toward various coal operators with whom Gibbs had business dealings or with whom he anticipated doing business, including Grundy, Consolidated, Tennessee Products and Chemical Company, and one George Ramsey, in an alleged effort to cause them to cease doing business with him or to refuse to do business with him. At the conclusion of all of the evidence the Court concluded that the evidence was insufficient to warrant submitting to the jury the issues with reference to any losses sustained by the plaintiff by reason of any UMW activities directed toward inducing Consolidated, Tennessee Products & Chemical Company and George Ramsey to either cease or refuse to do business with Gibbs, but rather that the case should be submitted to the jury only with reference to any compensatory or punitive damages the plaintiff might be entitled to recover by reason of UMW activities alleged to have been directed toward having Grundy terminate its employment contract and its trucking contract with Gibbs.

The case was submitted to the jury upon a number of special issues. The jury found all issues in favor of Gibbs and against the UMW and awarded compensatory damages to Gibbs in the sum of $60,000 for termination of his employment contract with Grundy, and in the sum of $14,500 for termination of his trucking contract with Grundy and awarded punitive damages to Gibbs in the sum of $100,000, for a total award of $174,500 to the plaintiff.

A number of grounds in the defendant's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or in the alternative for a new trial, are directed toward alleged errors in the jury verdict in finding that the defendant violated the secondary boycott provisions of the Labor Management Relations Act. It is the contention of the defendant in this regard that under the evidence in this case there either was no secondary boycott as a matter of law, or that the evidence preponderates against such a finding. It is the contention of the defendant that no violation by it of 29 U.S.C. § 187 (Sec. 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act as amended) was shown in the evidence as (1) there was no evidence that the defendant was responsible for the activity alleged to constitute a secondary boycott, and (2) any loss occasioned the plaintiff was at most the result of primary union activity and not the result of any secondary activity for the reason that (a) such activity was limited to the premises of Grundy Mining Company, the employer with whom the dispute existed, (b) the object of the activity was clearly to further claimed job rights with Grundy, and not to induce Grundy to cease doing business with Gibbs, (c) the plaintiff, as mine superintendent for Grundy, was not such "other" or "neutral" person as to be the object of a proscribed secondary boycott, but rather was a part of Grundy, the primary employer.

Considering the defendant's contentions in the order stated above, the Court is of the opinion that there was sufficient evidence in the record to warrant submitting to the jury the issue of the defendant's responsibility for activity alleged to constitute secondary boycott. By stipulation UMW admits its responsibility for acts of its field representative, George Gilbert, performed in the scope of his employment. Without now determining whether the evidence was sufficient to permit a jury finding that UMW was responsible for the activities and violence testified to as having occurred in the Gray's Creek Area upon August 15 and 16, 1960, it appears undisputed that the UMW became aware of such activities by the 16th. There is evidence upon which the jury could find that thereafter Gilbert participated in and supported, if not controlled, the picketing that occurred. The witness, Swope, testified that George Gilbert gave instructions to the pickets to permit Swope to pass through the picket line. The witnesses, Gibbs, Campbell, and Higgins, each testified to conversations with George Gilbert during the course of the picketing indicating his support of the picketing and his direction of union activities toward the end of preventing Gibbs from working for Grundy or from bringing into the Gray's Creek Area the Southern Labor Union, a competitive union. Whether Gilbert or the UMW was or was not responsible for any violence or threats of violence that may have occurred either before or after August 16 is not controlling on the issue of secondary boycott, as it is the object of the union activity that constitutes the essence of the unfair labor practice involved in a proscribed secondary boycott. As stated in the case of N. L. R. B. v. International Rice Milling Co., 341 U.S. 665, at 672, 71 S.Ct. 961, at 964, 95 L.Ed. 1284:

"* * * violence on the picket line is not material. (and) * * * would not in itself bring the complained-of conduct into conflict with § 8(b) (4). It is the object of union encouragement that is proscribed * * * rather than the means adopted to make it felt."

The UMW next contends that Gibbs' loss of employment and loss of his trucking contract would at most be the result of primary union activity directed toward Grundy, and therefore not actionable under 29 U.S.C. § 187, as the union activity was limited to the premises of Grundy. In support of its position in this regard, the defendant relies principally upon the case of Electrical Workers v. National Labor Relations Board (cited as...