Alford v. National Post Office Mail Handlers

• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri
• Writing for the Court: J.F. Souders, Charles A. Werner, St. Louis, Mo., William B. Peer, Washington, D.C., for defendants
• Citation: Alford v. National Post Office Mail Handlers, 576 F.Supp. 278 (E.D. Mo. 1983)
• Decision Date: 23 November 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-1451C(1).,82-1451C(1).
• Parties: E.C. ALFORD, et al., Plaintiffs, v. NATIONAL POST OFFICE MAIL HANDLERS, etc., et al., Defendants.

576 F. Supp. 278

E.C. ALFORD, et al., Plaintiffs, v. NATIONAL POST OFFICE MAIL HANDLERS, etc., et al., Defendants.

No. 82-1451C(1).

United States District Court, E.D. Missouri.

November 23, 1983.

Sheldon Weinhaus, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiffs.

J.F. Souders, Charles A. Werner, St. Louis, Mo., William B. Peer, Washington, D.C., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

NANGLE, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION:

This case is now before this Court on the motion of defendants McGhee, Clossen and Quinones for reconsideration of a portion of this Court's order of September 28, 1983.¹ Defendants move this Court to reconsider that portion of the September 28th order which denied defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiffs' claims under section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, as amended, (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). Specifically, defendants contend that section 301(a) does not vest jurisdiction in this Court to hear plaintiffs' claims or, in other words, that plaintiffs' claims do not state a cause of action under section 301(a).

Plaintiffs respond with several arguments. First, plaintiffs contend that defendants are barred from raising this issue because they failed to raise it earlier and because they failed to object to the recommendation of the Honorable David Noce, United States Magistrate, that plaintiffs stated claims under section 301(a) if they amended their complaint to allege exhaustion of internal union remedies.² Second, plaintiffs argue that, if this Court reaches the merits of defendants' motion for reconsideration, section 301(a) does give this Court jurisdiction to hear plaintiffs' claims. Finally, plaintiffs accuse defendants of deliberately misrepresenting quotations from authorities relied upon by defendants in memoranda filed in support of defendants' motion for reconsideration, and of filing the instant motion for purposes of harassment and delay. Plaintiffs' request that this Court impose sanctions on defendants for their misconduct.

In addition, plaintiffs move to realign the Local Union as a plaintiff again, in view of the recent elections which placed one of the plaintiffs back in office; plaintiffs move for an entry of default and summary judgment against defendants McGhee, Clossen, and Quinones, in view of their failure to comply with this Court's order directing them to respond to plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment; and defendant Division moves this Court for a status call for the purpose of defining any remaining issues in view of the fact that elections were recently held and the trusteeship was lifted.

Each of these motions will be considered in turn.

II. MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION: DOES SECTION 301(a) CREATE A CAUSE OF ACTION BY LOCAL UNION MEMBERS AGAINST A LOCAL UNION FOR BREACH OF THE LOCAL CONSTITUTION?

A. Propriety Of Reaching Defendants' Argument

In their motion for reconsideration, defendants argue that this Court should reconsider this Court's prior holding that section 301(a) creates a cause of action for breach of a union constitution. Plaintiffs contend that defendants are barred from raising this argument now because they failed to raise it earlier. Defendants earlier moved to dismiss plaintiffs' section 301(a) claims on the ground that they had failed to exhaust internal union remedies. The motion was referred to the Honorable David Noce, United States Magistrate, for his report and recommendation. The Magistrate recommended that plaintiffs' section 301(a) claims be dismissed unless they amend their complaint to allege exhaustion of internal remedies. At no time did defendants argue that section 301(a) does not give this Court jurisdiction over plaintiffs' claims based upon section 301(a).

In the September 28th order, this Court, in dicta, stated that "section 301 of the LMRA creates a cause of action against a union by an officer who alleges that he was removed in violation of the union's constitution. 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). Kinney v. I.B. E.W., 669 F.2d 1222, 1229 (9th Cir.1981)." Local 314, National Post Office Mail Handlers v. National Post Office Mail Handlers, 572 F.Supp. 133, 139 (E.D.Mo., 1983). Defendants now directly raise the question of whether there is a cause of action under section 301(a) for plaintiffs' claims, by way of a motion to reconsider the September 28th denial of defendants' motion to dismiss the section 301(a) claims.

While defendants are tardy in not squarely raising this question earlier,³ it is the opinion of this Court that it is both proper and necessary to reach the merits of defendants' argument in support of their motion for reconsideration. Whether defendants' motion be characterized as a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted or a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, it is clear that both may be raised before the district court at any time. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(h)(2) and (3). In the alternative, it is clear that either motion may be raised by a district court sua sponte. See 5 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 1357 at 593 (1969).

Accordingly, whether by defendants' motion for reconsideration or upon this Court's own motion, this Court now reaches the merits of whether section 301(a) gives this Court jurisdiction over plaintiffs' claims.

B. Plaintiffs' Claims Under Section 301(a)

In their section 301(a) claims, plaintiffs allege that certain actions by defendants violated the Local Constitution.⁴ Plaintiffs allege that their removal from office violated the Local Constitution in that: 1) the charges against them were not specific as required by Article X, § 1 (¶ 20 of First Amended Complaint); 2) the trial panel which heard the charges against plaintiffs was biased and not disinterested as required by Article X, § 3 (¶ 22 of First Amended Complaint); and 3) the decision to remove plaintiffs from office was not accompanied by specific findings of guilt as required by Article X, § 5 (¶ 23 of First Amended Complaint). Plaintiffs further allege that the failure of the defendant Division⁵ to hear or process plaintiffs' appeals from the decisions of the trial panel is a violation of Article X, § 6 of the Local Constitution. (¶ 26 of First Amended Complaint). In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants violated the Local Constitution by removing the Local's financial records from the Local headquarters, Article IV, § 5(D)(8) (¶ 12 of First Amended Complaint), and by not recognizing the signature of Local President Alford on the Local's check, Article IV, § 5(D)(4) (¶ s 13 & 14 of First Amended Complaint).

Significantly, plaintiffs rely, for their section 301(a) claims, solely on violations of the Local Constitution, rather than the National (Division) or International Constitutions. Nowhere in plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint is either of the latter constitutions mentioned, nor can it be inferred from any allegation in said complaint that plaintiffs' claims are based on violations of the National or International Constitutions.

C. Standard For Granting A Motion To Dismiss

In passing on a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a court is required to view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). A complaint will withstand a motion to dismiss even if it appears on the face of the pleadings that a recovery is very remote. Id. A complaint will not be dismissed unless it "appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley, 355 U.S. at 45-46, 78 S.Ct. at 101-102.

D. The Merits Of Defendants' Argument

Section 301(a) provides:

Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this chapter, or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.

29 U.S.C. § 185(a) (emphasis added). The issues raised by the facts of this case are: 1) whether individual union members can maintain a suit based upon a violation of a union constitution; and 2) whether a local constitution is a "contract between ... labor organizations."

In United Association of Journeymen v. Local 334, 452 U.S. 615, 101 S.Ct. 2546, 69 L.Ed.2d 280 (1981) (hereinafter "Journeymen"), the Supreme Court held that an international union's constitution is a "contract between ... labor organizations," and that a federal district court has jurisdiction, under section 301(a), of a claim by a local union against an international union that the international union violated the international constitution, without requiring proof that the dispute will have a "significant impact" on external labor-management relations. Prior to the Court's decision in Journeymen, the Courts of Appeals had split on whether such an action could be maintained under section 301(a) without first satisfying a significant impact requirement. Id. at 620 n. 7, 101 S.Ct. at 2549 n. 7. However, the Court was careful to limit its holding to the facts before it, namely a local union suing an international union alleging that the international violated the international constitution. The Court stated: "we ... need not decide whether individual union members may bring suit on a union constitution against a labor organization." Id. at 627 n. 16, 101 S.Ct. at 2553 n. 16 (emphasis added).

Prior to Journeymen, the Ninth Circuit had held that an individual union member may bring suit on a union constitution against a labor organization, but required a showing of significant impact in all cases of suits upon union constitutions under section 301(a). Kinney v. International Brotherhood...