Broth. of Ry., Airline and S.S. Clerks, Freight Handlers and Exp. and Station Employees, In re

• Decision Date: 20 September 1979
• Docket Number: No. 79-1769,79-1769
• Citation: 605 F.2d 1073
• Parties: 102 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2439, 87 Lab.Cas. P 11,581 CA 79-3549 In re BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY, AIRLINE AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS, FREIGHT HANDLERS AND EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYEES ("BRAC"), Bob D. Lynch, J. B. Byrd, James C. Hurley, Arlinous Fells, W. R. Payne and Larry P. Cunningham, Petitioners.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1073

605 F.2d 1073

102 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2439, 87 Lab.Cas. P 11,581

CA 79-3549 In re BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY, AIRLINE AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS, FREIGHT HANDLERS AND EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYEES ("BRAC"), Bob D. Lynch, J. B. Byrd, James C Hurley, Arlinous Fells, W. R. Payne and Larry P. Cunningham Petitioners.

No. 79-1769.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Sept. 13, 1979.

Decided Sept. 20, 1979.

A. Fehr, Jolley, Moran, Walsh, Hager & Gordon, Kansas City, Mo., for appellant.

William M. Stapleton, Lathrop, Koontz, Righter, Clagett, Parker & Norquist, Kansas City, Mo., for appellee.

Before HEANEY, HENLEY and McMILLIAN, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

On August 28, 1979, members of the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers and Express and Station Employees (BRAC) struck the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company (Rock Island). The Rock Island was in receivership at the time the strike commenced. On September 10, 1979, BRAC members began picketing the Kansas City Railway Terminal Company (Terminal), which provides railroad terminal services and facilities in the Kansas City area. The next day, September 11, 1979, Terminal brought an action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri seeking to enjoin picketing at and around the Terminal premises. The District Court issued a temporary restraining order forbidding picketing at the Terminal until September 21, 1979, and setting the suit for preliminary injunction for hearing on September 20, 1979. BRAC then filed, with this Court, an emergency petition for writs of mandamus and prohibition seeking to stay the temporary restraining order.

The first issue to be considered is whether a writ of mandamus may be used to challenge the issuance of a temporary restraining order. Since a temporary restraining order is not a final order or one of the interlocutory orders specifically made appealable by 28 U.S.C. § 1292, this Court is without jurisdiction to entertain a direct appeal of such an order. The extraordinary remedy of mandamus, however, may be used "to confine an inferior court to a lawful exercise of its prescribed jurisdiction." Roche v. Evaporated Milk Assn., 319 U.S. 21, 26, 63 S.Ct. 938, 941, 87 L.Ed. 1185 (1943). If the District Court was without jurisdiction to issue the temporary restraining order, a court of appeals has jurisdiction to dissolve that order by means of a writ of mandamus. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit expressly so held in Truck Drivers Local U. No. 807 v. Bohack Corp., 541 F.2d 312 (2d Cir. 1976), and we elect to follow the reasoning of that court.

We thus turn to the second issue for decision: whether the District Court had jurisdiction to issue the temporary restraining order. Petitioners argue that the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 101-115, deprives the District Court of jurisdiction to enjoin the picketing at the Terminal. 29 U.S.C. § 107 provides that District Courts are without jurisdiction to grant injunctive relief in cases "involving or growing out of a labor dispute" unless a hearing is conducted and specific findings are made that unlawful acts are being committed or threatened, and substantial and irreparable injury will occur if injunctive relief is not granted. Terminal contends that the picketing constitutes an unlawful secondary boycott and thus falls within the exception to the general provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act.

In Brotherhood of R. Trainmen v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 394 U.S. 369, 89 S.Ct. 1109, 22 L.Ed.2d 344 (1969), the Supreme Court was confronted with a factual situation similar to the one in this case. The Court noted the difficulty in distinguishing between "legitimate 'primary activity' and banned 'secondary activity' " particularly in "common situs" cases. ¹ Similar difficulty was noted by the court in Brotherhood of R. Train. v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 362 F.2d 649 (5th Cir.), Aff'd, 385 U.S. 20, 87 S.Ct. 226, 17 L.Ed.2d 20 (1966). In that case, the court looked at the economic reality of the situation and determined that the...