Highway Truck Drivers and Helpers, Local 107 v. Cohen

• Decision Date: 11 June 1964
• Docket Number: No. 14602 and 14603.,14602 and 14603.
• Citation: 334 F.2d 378
• Parties: HIGHWAY TRUCK DRIVERS AND HELPERS, LOCAL 107 OF the INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association by Thomas Graham, et al. v. Raymond COHEN, Joseph E. Grace, Edward Battisfore and Edward Walker, Highway Truck Drivers & Helpers, Local 107, Intervening Defendant, Raymond Cohen and Edward Walker, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

334 F.2d 378 (1964)

HIGHWAY TRUCK DRIVERS AND HELPERS, LOCAL 107 OF the INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association by Thomas Graham, et al. v. Raymond COHEN, Joseph E. Grace, Edward Battisfore and Edward Walker Highway Truck Drivers & Helpers, Local 107, Intervening Defendant Raymond Cohen and Edward Walker, Appellants.

Nos. 14602 and 14603.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued March 5, 1964.

Decided June 11, 1964.

Abraham J. Brem Levy, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.

Edward B. Bergman, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellees.

Before McLAUGHLIN and FORMAN, Circuit Judges, and LEAHY, District Judge.

McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judge.

When this matter was before us previously, 3 Cir., 284 F.2d 162 (1960), cert. den. 365 U.S. 833, 81 S.Ct. 747, 5 L.Ed.2d 744 (1961), we affirmed the order of the district court which had enjoined the officers of Local 107 from using Local funds to pay legal fees incurred in defense of civil or criminal actions then pending as of March 24, 1960 against them in the Courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to the issuance of the injunction said officers had actually handed out union money amounting to $24,921.41 for their own personal counsel fees. After the case was remanded to the district court it was tried to that court on a complete stipulation of facts (including an additional stipulation) supplemented by a brief oral statement and arguments by counsel. The court found that the plaintiffs as trustees ad litem for the Local were entitled to judgment against the defendants in the sum of $24,921.41 and this was so entered. Thereafter the district court on motion enjoined the payment of any money by the Local to the individual defendants until the judgment was satisfied or a court approved bond filed. That order was made for the purpose of assisting the union to obtain reimbursement of its funds under the judgment.

Defendants Cohen and Walker appeal from the money judgment against them and from the order enjoining the Local from paying the defendants' salaries until the judgment is satisfied or bond filed (an approved bond has since been filed). They argue that the money for their defense was rightly paid by their union because, according to them, "substantial union interests were involved". They contend, as an argument in favor of their payment of their personal attorneys with union funds that "The primary matter in which the attorneys for the officers of Local 107 were engaged during the time of the September and October 1959 bills was the Special Investigating Grand Jury case." They state the union had a specific interest in the Special Grand Jury case and that under the prior district court opinion these fees could have been paid as they were. Regarding the money judgment, appellants claim that the resolution of the union authorizing the payments involved was ratified by an amendment to the International Union Constitution and therefore plaintiffs action is moot. Finally, they say that they "paid for the legal services rendered on their behalf in the criminal and civil proceedings brought against them personally separately out of nonunion funds."

The complaint in this cause charges the defendants, the governing officers of the Local, with conspiring to cheat and defraud the Local of large sums of money. It is a suit under Section 501(a) and (b) of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 U.S.C.A. § 501(a) and (b) which establishes fiduciary responsibility on the part of officers of a labor organization and provides for a federal district court action to enforce those responsibilities. The stipulation under which, as appellants state in their brief, this case "was presented to Judge Ralph C. Body * * *" for trial reads:

"It is hereby stipulated between Samuel Dash, Esq., attorney for defendants, Raymond Cohen, Joseph E. Grace, Edward Battisfore, and Edward Walker, and Edward B. Bergman, Esq., attorney for plaintiff, that the legal services and costs which have been rendered and incurred by the firm of Dash and Levy, Esqs., for the officers of Highway Truck Drivers and Helpers, Local 107, are as appear in the copies of bills attached hereto as Exhibits `A\', `B\', `C,\' `D\', and `E\'. All of these attached bills have in fact been paid, and were paid out of funds belonging to Highway Truck Drivers and Helpers, Local 107, under the provisions of a resolution adopted by the local on September 21, 1959. A true and correct copy of this resolution is hereto attached and marked Exhibit `F\'.

"The legal services and costs referred to by Exhibits `A\' through `E\' were rendered by the firm of Dash and Levy, Esqs., in the specific civil and criminal cases listed in Exhibit `G\' attached hereto. The phrase `officers\' which appears at the top of Exhibit `G\' refers to the following persons only: Joseph E. Grace, Raymond Cohen, Edward Battisfore, Edward Walker, Walter Baker, Charles O\'Lear and Michael Hession. Joseph E. Grace is President of Local 107, Raymond Cohen is Secretary-Treasurer, Edward Battisfore is Vice President, Edward Walker is Recording Secretary, Walter Baker, Charles O\'Lear and Michael Hession are Trustees.

SAMUEL DASH Attorney for Defendants EDWARD B. BERGMAN Attorney for Plaintiff"

The bills from the attorneys, totaling $24,921.41, are attached to the stipulation. The first is dated September 22, 1959 addressed to all the officers named in the stipulation. It is for "Retainer — legal services $15,000.00" and is marked "Pd". The second is dated September 22, 1959 addressed to "Mr. Raymond Cohen, Secretary and Treasurer Local 107 * * *." It is for "Professional services rendered March 1959 to September 1959: Legal fees $3500.00 Costs $1000.00 Total $4500.00". It is marked "Pd". The third is dated October 20, 1959. It is addressed to "Officers Local 107 * * *." It is for costs incurred "In...