Bailey v. Ryan Stevedoring Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 27 January 1978
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 71-79.
• Citation: 443 F. Supp. 899
• Parties: Alton J. BAILEY v. RYAN STEVEDORING CO., INC., (2) Rogers Terminal and Shipping Corp., (3) Louisiana Stevedores, Inc., (4) Ramsay, Scarlett and Co., Inc., (5) Baton Rouge Marine Contractors, Inc., and (6) Local 1830 and Local 1833, General Longshore Workers, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Louisiana

443 F. Supp. 899

Alton J. BAILEY v. RYAN STEVEDORING CO., INC., (2) Rogers Terminal and Shipping Corp., (3) Louisiana Stevedores, Inc., (4) Ramsay, Scarlett and Co., Inc., (5) Baton Rouge Marine Contractors, Inc., and (6) Local 1830 and Local 1833, General Longshore Workers, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO.

Civ. A. No. 71-79.

United States District Court, M. D. Louisiana.

January 27, 1978.

James C. Lopez, Edward F. Glusman, Baton Rouge, La., for Rogers Terminal & Shipping Corp., Louisiana Stevedores, Inc., Ramsay Scarlett Company, Inc. and Baton Rouge Marine Contractors, Inc.

James A. George, Baton Rouge, La., for Local 1833, General Longshore Workers, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO.

Joseph W. Cole, Jr., Port Allen, La., for Local 1830, General Longshore Workers, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO.

Johnnie A. Jones, Baton Rouge, La., for plaintiff.

C. Paul Barker, Dodd, Hirsch, Barker, Meunier, Boudreaux & Lamy, New Orleans, La., for Local 1830 and Local 1833, General Longshore Workers, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO.

George A. Mathews, Dale, Owen, Richardson, Taylor & Mathews, Baton Rouge, La., for Baton Rouge Marine Contractors, Inc. and Ryan Stevedoring Company, Inc.

E. GORDON WEST, District Judge:

The plaintiff, Alton J. Bailey, filed this civil rights action against several stevedoring companies and two local longshoremen's unions at the Port of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On behalf of himself and "others similarly situated," the plaintiff sought injunctive relief, declaratory judgment, and back pay. The plaintiff further sought to have the all black union, Local No. 1830, General Longshore Workers, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO, merged with the all white union, Local No. 1833.

The District Court found that there was no employment discrimination on the part of any of the defendants, and particularly found that plaintiff had in no way been discriminated against by any of the defendants. This Court further concluded that the claims of the plaintiff were entirely individual in nature and denied the plaintiff the class action which he had attempted to bring under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

On appeal, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court in part and reversed in part. The Court of Appeals, agreeing with the Trial Court, found the plaintiff did not have a valid individual claim, and that he did not have the requisites to qualify him as a representative for a class action. But then the Appeals Court went on to conclude that while the hiring practice of defendants dividing and allotting jobs on a 50-50 basis between the members of the two unions, which unions each had approximately the same number of members, did not result in discriminatory hiring, nevertheless the 50-50 hiring practice represented a possible future threat of discrimination should the numerical membership of the two unions change, and then proceeded to remand the case to this Court with a mandate that a permanent injunction issue enjoining the continued operation of the two segregated local unions. In other words, the Court of Appeals agreed that the plaintiff had no meritorious individual claim, and that he could not represent anyone in this suit except himself, but still the mandate required judgment in his favor and against the defendants. Since this Court believes that the law, though it may have been unsettled at that time, has now been clarified by the United States Supreme Court, it feels compelled to deviate from the mandate issued by the Court of Appeals for the following reasons.

Under Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court may relieve a party of a final judgment when:

"(5) . . . it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or (6) for any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the law."

With this in mind, the following issues are presented to this Court: (1) Does Rule 60(b) give this Court the power to change the judgment of the Appellate Court? (2) Does this Court need leave from the Court of Appeals to entertain the Rule 60(b) motion? (3) If this Court does have such power, do the Supreme Court cases hereinafter referred to warrant deviating from the mandate of the Court of Appeals?

This Court is aware of the trend in the law, as summarized by Professor J. W. Moore in 7 Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 60.26(3) at page 325, that generally, Rule 60(b)(5), "does not authorize relief from a judgment on the ground that the law applied by the Court in making its adjudication has been subsequently overruled or declared erroneous in another and unrelated proceeding." But this Court feels that "this is not an inexorable rule, as indeed the Supreme Court has recognized." Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 2864. In Polites v. U. S., 364 U.S. 426, 433, 81 S.Ct. 202, 206, 5 L.Ed.2d 173 (1960), the Court states that:

"We need not go so far here as to decide when an appeal has been abandoned or not taken because of a clearly applicable adverse rule of law, relief under Rule 60(b) is inflexibly to be withheld when there has later been a clear and authoritative change in governing law."

Following this approach, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Theriault v. Smith, 523 F.2d 601 (CA 1-1975), changed a consent decree when a Supreme Court decision "represented a fundamental change in the legal predicates of the consent decree." The Court recognized this as "arguably the kind of situation in which relief should be available under Rule 60(b)(5)." The District Court in Griffin v. State Board of Education, 296 F.Supp. 1178 (E.D.Va.— 1969), allowed reopening of a decree upholding the validity of a state tuition grant system where the "intervening and supervening edicts of the Supreme Court qualify under the Rule as a `reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment' under Rule 60(b)(6)." The Court went on to say, "This is a substantial change in the law and ended further viability of our decision. Now to continue its efficacy would be unjust to those initially and now affected by the order."

Further justification for the use of Rule 60(b) by this Court is evident in the words of the Court in Radack v. Norwegian America Line Agency, Inc., 318 F.2d 538 (CA 2-1963), wherein it is stated that Rule 60(b) gives the Court a "grand reservoir of equitable power to do justice in a particular case . . .; the rule should be liberally construed when substantial justice will be served."

Therefore, it is the opinion of this Court that Rule 60(b) should be used in this case. The question now arises as to whether or not the District Court may apply the rule without leave from the Appellate Court.

Many Courts of Appeals have required appellate leave before the District Court may reopen a case which had been reviewed on appeal. However, the Supreme Court just recently ended this anachronism in Standard Oil Co. of California v. United States, 429 U.S. 17, 97 S.Ct. 31, 50 L.Ed.2d 21 (1976). The Government won an antitrust action in the District Court and was affirmed by the Supreme Court. There arose allegations of misconduct on the...