Yablonski v. United Mine Workers of America

• Decision Date: 03 August 1972
• Docket Number: No. 24560-24563.,24560-24563.
• Citation: 466 F.2d 424,151 US App. DC 253
• Parties: Kenneth J. YABLONSKI and Joseph A. Yablonski, Appellants, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

151 US App. DC 253, 466 F.2d 424 (1972)

Kenneth J. YABLONSKI and Joseph A. Yablonski, Appellants, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA et al.

Nos. 24560-24563.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued September 16, 1971.

Decided August 3, 1972.

Mr. John W. Douglas, Washington, D. C., with whom Mr. Quin Denvir, El Centro, Cal., was on the brief, for appellants.

Mr. Paul R. Connolly, Washington, D. C., with whom Mr. Edward L. Carey, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellees. Mr. Earl C. Dudley, Jr., Washington, D. C., also entered an appearance for appellees.

Before McGOWAN and WILKEY, Circuit Judges, and GOURLEY,^* Senior District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

McGOWAN, Circuit Judge:

In the course of the bitterly contested 1969 election for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, one of the candidates, the late Joseph A. Yablonski, instituted in the District Court four separate lawsuits under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. 29 U.S.C. §§ 401ff. Mr. Yablonski did not live to see those cases through to final conclusion since he, together with his wife and daughter, was murdered shortly after the election.¹ Significant and substantial preliminary relief was, however, forthcoming in, or by reason of, those suits. In each case eventual motions were made for the allowance of attorney's fees to the plaintiff; and the consolidated appeals now before us are from orders of the District Court denying those motions. We reverse.

I

The litigations giving rise to the appeals before us are as follows:

1. The Mailing List Case.

Promptly after announcing his candidacy, Mr. Yablonski invoked the provisions of § 401(c) of LMRDA imposing a duty upon a labor organization "to comply with all reasonable requests of any candidate to distribute by mail or otherwise at the candidate's expense campaign literature in aid of such person's candidacy to all members in good standing of such labor organization . . ." 29 U.S.C. § 481(c). Receiving no meaningful response from UMW to his request, Yablonski sued in the District Court to compel compliance with the statute. A preliminary injunction giving the relief sought was entered after a contested hearing. Appealed to this court, we denied a stay and the appeal was ultimately withdrawn. Three separate mailings were made during the course of the campaign, the first to each of the 162,000 UMW members informing them of Yablonski's candidacy and of his qualifications, and the other two to each local union, the second of which advised the locals of their responsibilities under LMRDA and the union constitution with respect to the conduct of a fair election.

2. The Reinstatement Case.

With the announcement of his candidacy, Mr. Yablonski was promptly removed, without notice and without any serious attempt at justification, from his job as Acting Director of Labor's Non-Partisan League in Washington and reassigned to District 5 in Pittsburgh which was controlled by his opponent, Mr. Boyle, the UMW presidential incumbent. Section 609 of LMRDA makes it unlawful for any labor organization "to fine, suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline any of its members for exercising any right to which he is entitled" under the Act. 29 U.S.C. § 529. Mr. Yablonski again filed suit, with the result that the District Court, after hearing, found as a fact that the removal had been motivated by a purpose to retaliate for his candidacy. A preliminary injunction was granted, ordering his reinstatement. The response of the defendants was grudging at best, and reinstatement was actually effected only after Mr. Yablonski threatened to seek a contempt order.

3. The Journal Case.

Alleging that the defendants were continuously using as a campaign tool against him the UMW Journal, a union publication sent regularly to every UMW member, Mr. Yablonski sued on behalf of himself and all UMW members to stop this practice. Section 401(c) of LMRDA bans discrimination by a labor organization "in favor of or against any candidate with respect to the use of lists of members." 29 U.S.C. § 481(c). The District Court, finding that a prima facie case had been made that the defendants were violating this statute in their use of the Journal, issued a temporary restraining order (which we refused to stay), and thereafter, after hearing, a preliminary injunction which ordered the defendants (1) to stop the practice complained of and (2) to distribute a copy of the court's findings and injunctive order to each UMW member.

4. The Fair Election Case.

Mr. Yablonski's fourth resort to the courts was on behalf of himself and all UMW members, asking that, by reference to Sections 401(c) and (e) and 501 of LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 481(c), (e), 501, the defendants be ordered to promulgate and to effectuate rules and procedures designed to assure fairness in the election. This action was taken only after Mr. Yablonski had formally requested the defendants to permit inspection of UMW membership lists and to issue to all locals rules for the conduct of the election. This request included specific proposals for inclusion in such rules. When these requests were denied, they were followed by a further request that the union leadership institute a suit for a declaration of the terms under which the election should be held. Receiving no response to this last request, Mr. Yablonski filed this suit.

The election call sent out after this litigation was commenced contained, for the first time in UMW history, two of the procedures suggested by Mr. Yablonski — secret balloting and candidate observers — but it went no further towards the promulgation of comprehensive election rules for the locals. When the matter came on for hearing on a preliminary injunction, the court was critical of the defendants, and this was countered by the making to the court of certain representations as to steps the defendants would take. These included undertakings that each local would be sent a set of detailed rules for the election; UMW membership lists would be prepared and made available for inspection by all candidates; election results, by local, would be sent to each local; and 51,000 extra ballots held by the defendants would be returned to the printer. By reason of such representations, the District Court exercised its discretion to withhold preliminary relief. In that event, the actions taken constituted compliance with substantially all of the items enumerated in Mr. Yablonski's complaint as entitling him to judicial intervention.

II

The election was held on December 9, 1969, and Mr. Yablonski's death occurred later that month.² On February 9, 1970, the motions for counsel fees were filed in each of the cases. An opposition was filed by the defendants, and they took the deposition of the lawyer who had represented Mr. Yablonski in the four suits. On June 22, 1970, the District Court, after hearing and argument, entered an order dismissing three of the cases as moot (the Mailing List, Reinstatement, and Journal Cases), and denying the motions for fees in those cases. On July 2, 1970, a further order was entered in the Fair Election Case denying the motion for fees "insofar as the services claimed to have been rendered are related to the Section 401(c) . . . aspect of the case." This case had, in the preceding order, been consolidated by consent with a fifth pending Yablonski suit which alleged violations of fiduciary obligations under Section 501(a) of LMRDA, the text of which is set forth in the margin.³

In a memorandum opinion accompanying the first of its orders, the District Court characterized the result reached by it as reflecting allegiance to the principle that, where Congress provides a statutory scheme of rights and remedies enforceable in the District Court and does not at the same time expressly contemplate the allowance of counsel fees, such fees are not to be supplied through an exercise of the inherent powers of the court. It noted that Congress had explicitly provided for counsel fees in two sections of LMRDA (201(c) and 501(b));⁴ and it thought that this circumstance, taken together with the relevant legislative history, exhibited a Congressional purpose to withhold fee allowances in respect of rights asserted under other parts of the Act. To the extent that it might be asserted that Congress should not be taken as having clearly and positively foreclosed an assertion of judicial power to award fees where a litigant has conferred benefits on persons other than himself, the court was of the view that the suits were brought "for the primary purpose of aiding Yablonski in his election bid," and it professed to be "not satisfied" that the suits "were intended to or did benefit the union except in the most indirect and theoretical way." Thus, said the court, there could be no "basis" for an allowance of attorney's fees by virtue of its general equity powers.

III

Our difference with the District Court does not derive from disagreement with its conclusion that Congress has made no express provision for the award of counsel fees in respect of the particular statutory causes of action pursued by Mr. Yablonski in his four law suits.⁵ We think, however, that judicial inquiry does not stop there. The relevant questions left to be answered are (1) whether Congress is to be taken as having manifested a purpose to preclude the allowance of such fees, and (2) if it has not, whether, in the circumstances disclosed by this record, it is appropriate for the court to grant such relief independent of explicit statutory authorization.

With respect to the first of these issues, the District Court relied upon both the legislative record relating to LMRDA and a decision of the Supreme Court involving an entirely different statute. Fleischmann Distilling Corp. v. Maier Brewing Co., 386 U.S. 714, 87 S.Ct. 1404, 18 L.Ed.2d 475 (1967). We find each of these to be very slender...