United Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

• Decision Date: 22 June 2017
• Docket Number: No. 42, Sept. Term, 2016,42, Sept. Term, 2016
• Citation: 453 Md. 482,162 A.3d 909
• Parties: UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, et. al. v. WAL–MART STORES, INC., et. al.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

453 Md. 482

162 A.3d 909

UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, et. al.

v.WAL–MART STORES, INC., et. al.

No. 42, Sept. Term, 2016

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 22, 2017

Argued by George Wiszynski (Joey Hipolito (UFCW Int'l Union, Washington, DC), on brief, for petitioners.

Argued by Steven D. Wheeless (Douglas D. Janicik, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Phoenix, AZ), on brief, Jennifer M. Alexander(Brassel, Alexander & Rice, LLC, Annapolis, MD) on brief, for Respondents.

Elizabeth Gaudio, Esquire, NFIB Small Business Legal Center, Washington, DC, Andrew Holt, Esquire, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for Amicus Curiae National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal.

Argued before: Barbera, C.J. Greene, Adkins, McDonald, Watts, Hotten, Getty, JJ.

Getty, J.

In this appeal, a labor union seeks dismissal of an employer's state law claims for trespass and nuisance on grounds of federal preemption. The employer, on the other hand, seeks to uphold an injunction to prohibit the labor union from holding demonstrations about the employer's employment conditions on the employer's private property. United Food and Commercial Workers International Union ("UFCW"), petitioner, is a labor union that represents grocery, retail, meatpacking, and food-processing workers. The other petitioners are a subsidiary of UFCW known as the Organization United for Respect at Walmart ("OURWalmart"), employees of UFCW, a coalition of labor organizations known as Jobs with Justice, and demonstrators identified only as "Does 1–10." Respondents—Wal–mart Stores, Inc.; WalMart Stores East, LP; and Sam's East, Inc. (collectively, "Walmart")—own and operate approximately sixty retail stores in Maryland. Between 2011 and 2013, UFCW held demonstrations at Walmart stores throughout Maryland, protesting Walmart's employment conditions. In response, Walmart sued UFCW in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County for trespass and nuisance, and sought an injunction against UFCW.

UFCW filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that Walmart's claims were preempted by the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"). The circuit court held that Walmart's claims were not preempted, and denied UFCW's motion to dismiss. Walmart filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, in which it argued that this case does not involve a labor dispute within the meaning of Maryland's Anti–Injunction Act ("AIA"). The circuit court agreed with Walmart that the AIA does not apply, and granted the preliminary injunction. After the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, the circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of Walmart, and issued a permanent injunction against UFCW. On appeal, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the judgment of the circuit court.

Before this Court, UFCW argues that the circuit court erred in denying its motion to dismiss, because Walmart's state law claims for trespass and nuisance are preempted by the NLRA. Additionally, UFCW argues that this case involves a labor dispute within the meaning of the AIA, and that Walmart did not satisfy the AIA's requirements to receive an injunction. For the reasons that follow, we hold that Walmart's claims for trespass and nuisance are not preempted by the NLRA, and therefore the circuit court properly denied UFCW's motion to dismiss. Furthermore, we hold that the circuit court was correct in ruling that this case does not involve a labor dispute within the meaning of the AIA. Accordingly, we shall affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.

BACKGROUND

UFCW represents grocery, retail, meatpacking, and food-processing workers. Between 2011 and 2013, UFCW held demonstrations at Walmart stores in thirteen states, including Maryland.¹ Walmart employees are not unionized, and UFCW does not seek to represent them. UFCW claims that the purpose of its demonstrations was to persuade Walmart to improve employment conditions and to stop retaliating against employees who speak out for better conditions.

UFCW's demonstrations in Maryland took place between July 16, 2011 and September 5, 2013, at seven Walmart stores located in Arbutus, Bowie, Germantown, Hanover, Landover Hills, Laurel, and Severn. Most demonstrations took place inside the stores; some took place in adjacent parking areas owned or leased by Walmart; and one took place on a public road near one of the stores. The demonstrations were organized as "flash mobs," meaning the demonstrators were notified by social media or cell phone text messages to quickly gather at a particular store.² The demonstrators then arrived at the store en masse in a coordinated effort. During the demonstrations, they marched through the stores—chanting, singing, blowing whistles, shouting into bullhorns and megaphones, and littering the stores with flyers. On some occasions, demonstrators inside the stores interrupted management meetings by forcing themselves into the meeting rooms and videotaping the managers' efforts to get them to leave. Some of the demonstrations lasted only fifteen to twenty minutes, while others lasted over an hour and included over one hundred demonstrators.

During many of the demonstrations, the demonstrators interfered with customers by blocking access to the cash registers and restrooms. In some cases, customers with items in their shopping carts left the store without purchasing any items. For example, during a demonstration at the Laurel Walmart on July 16, 2011, forty demonstrators wearing OURWalmart t-shirts formed a human chain stretching from the first to the last checkout counter. In some instances, the demonstrators also blocked ingress and egress to parking lots, parking spaces, and store entrances. During a demonstration in May 2012 at the Bowie Walmart, demonstrators parked a large van decorated with OURWalmart logos in the parking lot. They played OURWalmart videos on a television screen mounted on the van, piped music through speakers, and solicited customers and employees as they passed by.

At all of the demonstrations, Walmart managers repeatedly told the demonstrators to leave Walmart's property, but they refused. In each instance, the demonstrators were ultimately removed by the police, but sometimes returned to the same store as soon as the next day. Walmart's lawyers sent cease and desist letters to counsel for UFCW in October 2011, October 2012, November 2012, and April 2013. UFCW refused to cease the demonstrations absent a court order to do so.

In March 2013, Walmart filed an unfair labor practice ("ULP") charge against UFCW and OURWalmart with the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"). Walmart alleged that UFCW had violated section 8 of the NLRA "by planning, orchestrating, and conducting a series of unauthorized and blatantly trespassory in-store mass demonstrations ... by which the UFCW restrained and coerced [Walmart] employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights" under the NLRA. The ULP charge included a summary of seventy "events" UFCW had held at Walmart stores in thirteen states, including twelve "events" in Maryland. The allegations in the ULP charge all pertained to instances in which demonstrators confronted Walmart managers or employees directly, using "in your face" tactics in an effort to intimidate them into supporting UFCW. Demonstrations that did not include such coercive tactics were not included in the ULP charge. In May 2013, Walmart amended its ULP charge to narrow its scope to several events at a few stores around the country. The amended ULP charge did not include any events at Walmart stores in Maryland.

On September 20, 2013, Walmart filed a complaint against UFCW in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County.³ In its first amended complaint, filed on October 2, 2013, Walmart alleged that UFCW had violated Maryland law "through coordinated, statewide acts of trespass," such as conducting "in-store ‘flash mobs' " and blocking "ingress and egress to parking lots, parking spaces, vehicular traffic, and store entrances." The amended complaint detailed fifteen demonstrations at seven Walmart stores in Maryland. The complaint set forth claims for trespass and public and private nuisance, and sought nominal damages, a permanent injunction, and declaratory relief.

On October 10, 2013, Walmart filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. As part of its motion, Walmart argued that this case does not involve a labor dispute within the meaning of the AIA, and therefore Walmart was not required to satisfy the AIA's heightened requirements to receive an injunction. On October 25, 2013, UFCW filed a response in opposition to the motion. UFCW responded to Walmart's argument concerning the AIA that this case does involve a labor dispute, and therefore Walmart must satisfy the heightened requirements in order to receive an injunction.

On November 25 and 26, 2013, the circuit court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion. First, after hearing argument from both parties, the circuit court ruled that the case does not involve a labor dispute within the meaning of the AIA, so Walmart was not required to satisfy its heightened criteria for receiving an injunction. Next, Walmart presented three witnesses, each of whom was cross-examined by UFCW.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the circuit court granted the preliminary injunction. In its order, entered on November 26, 2013, the circuit court enjoined UFCW from

(i) entering on or inside Walmart private property in the State of Maryland to engage in activities such as unlawful picketing, patrolling, parading, demonstrations, "flash mobs," handbilling, solicitation, customer interference, and manager confrontations;

(ii) entering on or inside Walmart's private property in the State of Maryland without permission or authorization from Walmart for any purpose other than shopping for and/or purchasing merchandise at Walmart's stores; [and]

(iii) engaging in any nuisance conduct off Walmart's private property in the State of Maryland which blocks,

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