Batson v. Shiflett

• Citation: 586 A.2d 792,86 Md.App. 340
• Decision Date: 01 September 1990
• Docket Number: No. 766,766
• Parties: , 124 Lab.Cas. P 57,181 Arthur E. BATSON, Jr., et al. v. A. Spencer SHIFLETT, Jr. ,
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 340

86 Md.App. 340

586 A.2d 792, 124 Lab.Cas. P 57,181

Arthur E. BATSON, Jr., et al. v. A. Spencer SHIFLETT, Jr.

No. 766, Sept. Term, 1990.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

March 5, 1991.

Certiorari Granted June 26, 1991.

Michael Brodie (Michael R. Kopac, III and Sacks, Basch, Brodie & Sacks, Philadelphia, Pa., Kathryn Miller Goldman and Quinn, Ward & Kershaw, Baltimore, on the brief), for appellants.

Herbert J. Belgrad and Steven R. Freeman (Kenneth P. Niman, Harriet E. Cooperman and Kaplan, Heyman, Greenberg, Engelman & Belgrad, P.A., on the brief), Baltimore, for appellee.

Argued before ALPERT, CATHELL and DAVIS, JJ.

ALPERT, Judge.

Stemming from the publication of several leaflets distributed to local members of a national union, A. Spencer Shiflett, Jr. ("Shiflett"), appellee/plaintiff, sued the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America ("National Union") and Arthur E. Batson, Jr. ("Batson"), the National Union's president, appellants/defendants, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County for damages based on allegations of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy. The National Union and Batson are appealing the favorable determination for Shiflett.

We are asked to consider:

I. Where an Administrative Law Judge of the National Labor Relations Board resolves a dispute properly before him on unfair labor practice charges, and where a union official reports to the union membership with respect to the fact findings of the Administrative Law Judge, does not the federal labor law preemption doctrine bar state court jurisdiction of a defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress action based on allegations that statements accurately reporting the Administrative Law Judge's conclusions were false and malicious?

II. Where an alleged defamatory publication is couched solely in conditional language and contains no allegations of fact, may such a publication afford the basis for a defamation claim?

III. May allegedly defamatory statements made by a national union president to members of a local union with respect to conduct of the local union's president be deemed to constitute, in an[d] of themselves, such "extreme and outrageous conduct" as to support a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress?

IV. Where the alleged victim of intentional infliction of emotional distress continues with his duties as local union president and suffers no symptoms allegedly related to the conduct said to constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress until the lapse of nine months subsequent to said conduct, may the emotional distress allegedly suffered be deemed "severe" as a matter of law?

V. Particularly in the context of a trial concerning allegedly defamatory publications by a national union president with respect to a president of one of the national union's local affiliates, did not the trial judge err in excluding relevant testimony offered by the national union and its president in defense?

VI. Under all of the evidence, is not judgment on a jury award in the total sum of $730,000.00 so excessive as to require the grant of a new trial?

Facts and Proceedings

The facts underlying this appeal arise from a dispute that began in 1984. Shiflett was then president of Local 33, a local component of the National Union, a body that represents the interests of shipyard workers. He was employed by Bethlehem Steel Corporation ("Bethlehem"), with which the National Union and Local 33 together maintained a collective bargaining agreement covering Bethlehem's shipyard in Sparrows Point, Maryland. This agreement was due to expire on August 14, 1984. In March of 1984, Local 33 and Bethlehem executed a new collective agreement. The National Union denied having any knowledge of the negotiations and denied authorizing Local 33 to negotiate the agreement. Bethlehem and Local 33 claimed that Batson and the National Union had authorized Local 33 to negotiate the agreement without involving the National Union. Pursuant to the National Union's attempt to nullify the agreement, Bethlehem and Local 33 filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") against the National Union. After the charges were heard by an administrative law judge, they were dismissed.

Prior and subsequent to the administrative law judge's decision, six flyers were mailed to Local 33 members and distributed at the shipyard by the National Union. These flyers accused Shiflett and James Harmon, Local 33's representative to the National Union's General Executive Board, of various instances of misconduct. In Flyer 3, which was authored by Batson, Shiflett was accused of committing "crimes of conspiracy, perjury, falsification of records, illegal contract ratification and violation of both the National Constitution and By-laws of your Union." Appellants describe this flyer as a report of the disposition of the case by Judge Evans, the administrative law judge, and claim that the accusations were justified by the decision.

Another leaflet, Flyer 5, accused Shiflett of misuse of Local 33's monies. The allegations included misuse of petty cash, receiving reimbursement for the same expenses twice, personal use of Local 33 monies, and misappropriating food donation funds.

According to Shiflett, Batson and the National Union conducted several heavily attended meetings of the Local 33 membership in December, 1984, and January, 1985, at which Batson repeated the allegations of Flyer 5, called Shiflett a crook, and accused him of lying and committing perjury. Batson and the vice-president of the National Union, Robert Pemberton, met with management officials of Bethlehem on December 4, 1984; Batson stated that Shiflett immediately would be removed from office for embezzlement and misappropriation of Local 33 monies. Shiflett claims that Batson's allegations quickly spread throughout the shipyard, causing many Local 33 members to believe that Shiflett was a crook and a thief, and that he had been found guilty of the crimes alleged in Flyer 3.

Batson and the National Union then called a special election of Local 33 officers because Harmon, the Local's Executive Secretary, had misused Local 33's funds. This election was called before Shiflett's term expired, and was held in August of 1985. Shiflett ran for re-election, but lost--a loss that he attributes to the election being held in the midst of Batson's and the National Union's proliferation of false accusations against him. He claims that Local 33 members refused to accept his campaign literature, and called him a thief and a crook.

Shiflett insists that the allegedly false accusations spread by appellants, which triggered negative reactions by Local 33 members, caused him to become extremely upset and nervous; he could not sleep and he became disheveled in his appearance. Finding it extremely difficult to work, at times he would turn his car around and return home. He became a heavy drinker, used drugs, and eventually, by order of his doctor, required in-patient hospitalization for depression and alcohol abuse. He then received mental health counseling and medication. He claims to have lost control of his life; this claim was supported by the testimony of his doctor, Burton D'Lugoff, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Medical School.

After losing the election for the presidency of Local 33, Shiflett accepted a management position with Bethlehem, which he claims constituted a $17,000 drop in salary from $45,000 to $28,000. He was laid off in January, 1989. Eventually, he resigned from Bethlehem because of his discomfort there. He then worked several odd jobs, and was employed in a North Carolina pizza shop at the time of trial.

On August 1, 1985, Shiflett filed a complaint and demand for jury trial in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County against the National Union, Batson, and Robert Pemberton ¹, alleging counts of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy. The case was tried before a jury (the Honorable John F. Fader, II, presiding) and lasted for twelve days. Appellants unsuccessfully moved for judgment at the close of Shiflett's case and again at the close of their own case. Prior to submission to the jury, the court dismissed the conspiracy count and two of the libel counts. After the jury considered the remaining six defamation counts and the count for intentional infliction of emotional distress, it returned a special verdict in favor of Shiflett for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It awarded compensatory damages of $610,000, and $70,000 in punitive damages against National Union, and $50,000 in punitive damages against Batson. On February 28, 1990, judgments were entered in the above amounts.

Appellants subsequently filed a Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict or, in the Alternative, for a New Trial. The motion was denied. This appeal then followed.

The Law

I.

Appellants contend that the doctrine of federal labor law preemption bars state court jurisdiction over this defamation action. The crux of appellants' argument is that federal labor law policy has been violated "by permitting the state court jury in this case to reconsider and redetermine factual disputes resolved by the NLRB with respect to the allegations of Flyer No. 3," which accused Shiflett of "conspiracy, perjury, falsification of records, [and] illegal contract ratification."

To support their contention, appellants cite a number of Supreme Court and federal cases that have addressed the issue of federal labor law preemption. These decisions, however, do not compel us to conclude that National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") policy preempted the subject action. We hold that federal preemption principles do not deprive Maryland courts of jurisdiction over the case sub judice.

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