Schnabel v. BLDG. & CONST. TRADES COUNCIL OF PHILA.
Decision Date | 13 April 1983 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 82-2256. |
Citation | 563 F. Supp. 1030 |
Parties | F. Carl SCHNABEL, Joseph William Curtin, Ronald Hunsicker, and Schnabel Associates, Inc., v. BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL OF PHILADELPHIA AND VICINITY, AFL-CIO, et al. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
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Lawrence S. Coburn, Philadelphia, Pa., for F. Carl Schnabel, Joseph William Curtin, Ronald Hunsicker, and Schnabel Associates, Inc.
Trades, Local 654, Intern. Broth. of Elec. Workers, Ralph Williams, Patrick Gillespie, Edward McClintock, Hugh M. Snow.
William Einhorn, Philadelphia, Pa., for Metropolitan Dist. Council of Phila., United Broth. of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and Earl Henninger.
Gordon Gelfond, Philadelphia, Pa., for Local 542 Intern. Union of Operating Engineers and Charles Priscopo.
On May 21, 1982, plaintiffs, Schnabel Associates, Inc. ("SA"), F. Carl Schnabel, President of SA, Joseph William Curtin, a construction worker for SA and Ronald Hunsicker, a construction manager for SA (collectively referred to as the "individual plaintiffs"), filed a ten count complaint against the defendants, Building & Construction Trades Council of Philadelphia and Vicinity, AFL-CIO ("the Council"), Local 542, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 921, International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local Union 654, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Metropolitan District Council of Philadelphia, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (collectively referred to as the "union defendants"), Ralph Williams, former Business Manager of the Council, Charles Priscopo, a delegate to the Council and Business Agent of Local 542, Edward E. McClintock, Business Representative and Financial Secretary of Local 921, Hugh M. Snow, Business Manager of Local 654, Earl Henninger, Business Representative of Carpenters and various John Does and Richard Roes (collectively referred to as the "individual defendants"). The complaint states that since around November 4, 1981 the defendants have engaged in unlawful picketing and other illegal and at times violent conduct1 at four job sites at which SA is an open shop general contractor in order to induce subcontractors, suppliers, construction owners and users from doing business with SA. In count one, SA avers that the behavior of the Council and the union defendants violates § 8(b)(4) of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4), and § 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act ("LMRA"), 29 U.S.C. § 187. Part of the recovery SA seeks in this count is an award of punitive damages and attorneys' fees. Count two states that the defendants' behavior constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985(3) & 1986 ( ) because it has the intended purpose and effect of depriving plaintiffs, who are persons with no affiliation with organized labor, of equal protection of the law, specifically the right to freely travel and associate with each other in the pursuit of their employment relations and the right guaranteed under § 7 of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. § 157, to refuse to associate with a labor organization. In count three, SA asserts that the defendants and other co-conspirators have violated sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 & 2. Similarly in count four SA contends that the defendants themselves have undertaken actions proscribed by these antitrust statutes. Lastly, counts five through ten allege various state law causes of action.2
Defendants have moved to dismiss count one as to all the defendants but the Council and counts two through ten in their entirety. Regarding count one, defendants assert that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted against the union defendants because it fails to contain enough factual allegations to pass muster even under the liberal notice pleading required by the federal rules.3 Defendants also ask that SA's requests for punitive damages and attorneys' fees be stricken. As to count two, defendants contend that the plaintiffs have again failed to plead with specificity, that the plaintiffs do not belong to a class of persons targeted for protection by § 1985(3) and that plaintiffs cannot rely upon violations of § 303 as a basis for recovery under § 1985(3). Defendants further contend that having failed to plead a cause of action under § 1985, plaintiffs have not stated one under § 1986. Concerning SA's antitrust counts, defendants again assert that they lack the requisite specificity under the federal pleading rules. They also argue that these counts as pled do not invoke jurisdiction under the Sherman Act and do not survive the exemptions afforded organized labor from the antitrust laws. Defendants also assert that plaintiffs have not adequately pled any causes of action against the individual defendants because they have not properly pled any federal causes of action against them. Lastly, defendants contend that counts five through ten do not set forth enough detail to state causes of action against the Council and the union defendants.
I will address each one of these arguments in turn. Before addressing the merits of the motion, however, there is a threshold issue I must resolve. After the defendants filed their motion to dismiss, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint along with their reply to the motion. Plaintiffs rely in part on this amended complaint in their reply. Some of the defendants assert the plaintiffs were not free to file the amended complaint without leave of court. Therefore, they conclude that it is not properly before me for consideration.
Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that "a party may amend his pleading once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served...." Rule 7(a) defines pleadings as "a complaint and an answer; a reply to a counterclaim ...; an answer to a counterclaim...; a third-party complaint...; and a third-party answer...." By interpreting these two rules together, it is almost universally held that a motion to dismiss does not constitute a responsive pleading which terminates a plaintiff's right to amend as a matter of course. See 6 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1483 (1971 & Supp.1982); 3 Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 15.072 (1982 & Supp. 1982-83); Kelly v. Delaware River Joint Comm'n, 187 F.2d 93 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 342 U.S. 812, 72 S.Ct. 25, 96 L.Ed. 614 (1951). Cf. Neifeld v. Steinberg, 438 F.2d 423, 425 n. 3 (3d Cir.1971) ( ). See also Drennon v. Philadelphia General Hospital, 428 F.Supp. 809 (E.D.Pa.1977); Bates v. Western Electric, 420 F.Supp. 521, 524 n. 1 (E.D.Pa.1976). Thus plaintiffs' amended complaint is properly before me.
In evaluating the merits of defendants' motion, I must accept as true the well-pleaded allegations of the amended complaint and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). It is well-established that a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim "unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiffs can prove no set of facts in support of their claims which would entitle them to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957) (footnote omitted). With these guidelines in mind, I now turn to the substance of defendants' motion.
The role a complaint plays in federal civil practice is a limited one:
It is not necessary to plead evidence, nor is it necessary to plead facts upon which the claim is based. "To the contrary, all the Rules require is `a short and plain statement of the claim' that will give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests."
Bogosian v. Gulf Oil Corp., 561 F.2d 434, 446 (3d Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1086, 98 S.Ct. 1280, 55 L.Ed.2d 791 (1978), quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. at 47, 78 S.Ct. at 103.4 See Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). Despite this liberal interpretation, defendants nonetheless assert that count one fails to state a cause of action against the union defendants. Defendants' assertion must fail.
Count one more than adequately gives these defendants fair notice of SA's claim under § 303:5
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