Barefoot v. INTERNATIONAL BRO. OF TEAMSTERS, C., W. & H., 238-69.

• Decision Date: 12 June 1970
• Docket Number: No. 238-69.,238-69.
• Citation: 424 F.2d 1001
• Parties: Hall H. BAREFOOT et al., Plaintiffs, Appellees, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association, Defendant, Appellant, Local No. 886, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, an unincorporated association, and Transcon Lines Corporation, a corporation, Defendants, Charles B. Morse, Miles Hamper, Scott Benjamin, and Paul Aldridge, Intervening Plaintiffs.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

424 F.2d 1001 (1970)

Hall H. BAREFOOT et al., Plaintiffs, Appellees, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association, Defendant, Appellant, Local No. 886, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, an unincorporated association, and Transcon Lines Corporation, a corporation, Defendants, Charles B. Morse, Miles Hamper, Scott Benjamin, and Paul Aldridge, Intervening Plaintiffs.

No. 238-69.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

March 31, 1970.

Rehearing Denied June 12, 1970.

L. N. Wells, of Mullinax, Wells, Mauzy & Collins, Dallas, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

Charles Ellis, Oklahoma City, Okl. (Charles R. Nesbitt and Robert N. Naifeh, Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief) for plaintiffs-appellees and intervening plaintiffs.

Before LEWIS and HILL, Circuit Judges, and LANGLEY, District Judge.

LEWIS, Circuit Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal, duly certified from the Western District of Oklahoma and authorized pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), taken by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, etc. (International) following denial by the district court of a motion to dismiss International from the principal case for lack of venue jurisdiction under 29 U.S. C. § 185(c).¹ Plaintiffs in such case are former members of both International and Local 886 (Local) and ex-employees of defendant Transcon Lines Corporation (Transcon). They seek money damages for their alleged wrongful discharge from employment while engaged in a strike. The present appeal probes only the question of whether the allegations of the complaint and correlative facts adduced at an evidentiary hearing show sufficient involvement by International in the course of events surrounding the strike as to lodge jurisdiction in the Oklahoma district court.

Both the Local union and Transcon are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. B. H. Pannell was, at all times relevant to this appeal, the duly elected president of the Local. In May, 1967, several members of the Local employed by Transcon, including the plaintiffs, met with Pannell in order to determine what collective action could be taken by the Local to rectify long-standing labor grievances with Transcon. The employees maintained that working conditions and equipment at Transcon were unsafe in several respects and that Transcon had, for several years prior to this time, refused to remedy these conditions. At the meeting it was decided by the membership that in light of Transcon's apparent intransigence no means other than a work shut-down would serve to effect the desired changes. Pannell concurred in the necessity of striking Transcon but advised the union members that neither the Local nor International could officially endorse the strike. The strikers would be covertly supported yet publicly disclaimed by both union organizations. Previous to this meeting, Pannell had repeatedly consulted by telephone with International officials in Dallas concerning the impending confrontation with Transcon, seeking advice and direction from the international organization. As a result of these consultations, Pannell was apprised of the posture to be taken by International should a strike occur and as a further consequence formed his own position, reflected by the Local, to correspond with that stated policy. As found by the court below, Pannell on this and other occasions regarded the advice and instructions obtained from Dallas as "directives" and transmitted the substance of these consultations to the Local members in the same vein. However, there is no evidence in the record to indicate that International officials intended or were attempting to dictate the course of events in Oklahoma City. Rather, the record only supports the inference that International merely indicated what would be the nature of its response to the course of events dictated by the affirmative conduct of the Local union and Transcon.²

The strike was executed as planned; the plaintiffs were discharged by Transcon; and neither the Local nor International took action to reinstate them. Evidence was introduced at the evidentiary hearing to the effect that Pannell had consulted further with International after the initiation of the strike and had been "directed" to inform union members that in the event of the discharge of striking Transcon employees, International would sanction the strike and take action to have them reinstated. In this instance, Pannell actually journeyed to Dallas to consult personally with International officials there. However, International had no paid representatives or employees within the Western District of Oklahoma and no representatives were physically sent to the district during the period in question. The relationship between Pannell and International officials consisted only of telephonic communications and at least one consultation in Dallas. The interlocutory issue was thus certified to us as

* * * whether the venue requirements of Section 185(c) are satisfied as to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters by the activities within the district of B. H. Pannell during the period of time indicated, and by the responsible representatives of the International Union headquartered in Dallas advising and representing members of Local 886 by telephone or through consultation with and directions given to B. H. Pannell, or is actual physical presence within the Western District of officers or agents, as such, of the International necessary to sustain venue-jurisdiction under Section 185(c) of Title 29; and, in any event, must there be a showing of the requisite activities by agents at the time suit is filed or is presence at the time the cause of action arose sufficient to meet the venue requirements of Section 185(c).

The issue as so framed would seem to contemplate two possible theories as bases for the imposition of jurisdiction. First, it may be that the court considered the close and continued nexus of consultations between Pannell and International officials, coupled with the high degree of control which the Teamsters constitution gives the national body over its local affiliates, to have created a principal-agency relationship sufficient to satisfy the venue provision in question. Alternatively, the assertion of venue could be grounded on the theory that actual physical presence within the district is unnecessary since the "directives" issued by International officials had a distinct effect within the district.

If Pannell could be demonstrably established to have been acting as the agent of International according to the general rules of agency, venue over the principal could be sustained on that basis. United Steelworkers of America v. CCI Corp., 10 Cir., 395 F.2d 529, 532; cf. 29 U.S.C. § 185(e). And the...