Albrecht v. Indiana Harbor Belt R. Co., 9827.

• Decision Date: 20 December 1949
• Docket Number: No. 9827.,9827.
• Citation: 178 F.2d 577
• Parties: ALBRECHT et al. v. INDIANA HARBOR BELT R. CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

178 F.2d 577 (1949)

ALBRECHT et al. v. INDIANA HARBOR BELT R. CO.

No. 9827.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

December 20, 1949.

John H. Gately, Chicago, Ill. (Joseph F. Burns, Chicago, Ill., of counsel), for appellants.

Sidney C. Murray, Chicago, Ill., Marvin A. Jersild, Victor L. Lewis, Chicago, Ill., Owen W. Crumpacker, Edwin H. Friedrich, Hammond, Ind., and Crumpacker & Friedrich, Hammond, Ind., for appellee.

Before MAJOR, Chief Judge, and DUFFY and FINNEGAN, Circuit Judges.

DUFFY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs are or were yardmen employed by the defendant Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company, an Indiana corporation. They seek damages for alleged violations of the provisions of a contract relating to wages, hours, and working conditions. The contract relied upon was a written contract entered into December 20, 1919, between the General Managers' Committee, representing various railroad companies, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, a labor organization. The complaint alleges that plaintiffs are or were during the period in question members of the Brotherhood and that they are entitled to all of the benefits of the agreement. Plaintiffs claim violations of the agreement over a period extending from August 13, 1926, to December 12, 1938.

Plaintiffs allege that under said contract the railroad agreed to furnish a foreman and two helpers for each engine operating in the Blue Island Illinois yards, but failed to furnish such crews. The theory of Count I of the complaint is that the railroad failed to provide work which plaintiffs were willing to perform and of Count II that the defendant railroad required some of the plaintiffs to perform two types of work in a single day, and that they received pay for only the work done on one shift.

The complaint further alleges that the officials of the local Brotherhood lodge presented their grievances to the railroad company, based on said claimed violations, and that when they received no satisfaction they filed their claims with the Eastern Board of Adjustment, that said board was subsequently discontinued and succeeded by a new board, but that plaintiffs' claims were never presented to the new board.

Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint upon the ground that it failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and contends in particular that the action is barred by the Indiana six-year statute of limitations. Burns Ind.Stats. Anno. (1933), Sec. 2-601.

Plaintiffs urge that under Rule 8 (c), F.R.C.P., 28 U.S.C.A., it is improper to consider a plea of the statute of limitations on a motion to dismiss. As the legal effect of the bar clearly appears from the complaint, this contention cannot be sustained. Anderson v. Linton, 7 Cir., 1949, 178 F.2d 304.

Plaintiffs, all of whom are residents of Illinois, sue defendant, an Indiana corporation, upon a contract executed in Illinois for the purpose of governing wages and working conditions at the Blue Island Yards located in Illinois. The alleged breaches of contract occurred in Illinois. No citation of authority is needed for the proposition that...