Black v. Ryder/P.I.E. Nationwide, Inc.
| Decision Date | 22 September 1992 |
| Docket Number | 90-6278,Nos. 90-6219,s. 90-6219 |
| Citation | 970 F.2d 1461 |
| Parties | 140 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2904, 122 Lab.Cas. P 10,269 Donald L. BLACK, Plaintiff-Appellee, Plaintiff-Appellant (90-6278), v. RYDER/P.I.E. NATIONWIDE, INC.; Southern Conference of Teamsters; International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, Defendants, Teamsters Local # 519; Joint Council # 87 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, Defendants-Appellants (90-6219), Ryder/P.I.E. Nationwide, Inc.; Teamsters Local # 519; Joint Council # 87 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & and Helpers of America, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Paul A. Levy (argued and briefed), Public Citizen Litigation Group, Washington, D.C., Peter Alliman, Lee, Alliman & Carson, Madisonville, Tenn., and Authur L. Fox, II, Kator, Scott & Heller, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff.
Cecil D. Branstetter (briefed), Jane B. Stranch (argued and briefed), Branstetter, Kilgore, Stranch & Jennings, Nashville, Tenn., Howard H. Vogel, O'Neil, Parker & Williamson, Knoxville, Tenn., Peter Reed Corbin, Corbin & Dickinson, Jacksonville, Fla., John Paul Jones, Clearwater, Fla., and G. William Baab, Mullinax, Wells, Baab & Cloutman, Dallas, Tex., for defendants.
Before: NELSON and BOGGS, Circuit Judges; and WELLFORD, Senior Circuit Judge.
This appeal involves a claim brought by Donald Black against Teamsters Local 519 and Teamsters Joint Council 87, pursuant to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C. § 411. Black organized and participated in protesting against the leadership of Local 519 at the local union hall. Some of the picketers engaged in violent and threatening behavior at the hall. Local 519 ultimately brought charges against Black for violating the Teamsters Constitution. Teamsters Joint Council 87 convicted Black of those charges and punished him accordingly.
Black then filed this suit, alleging that various union bodies had retaliated against him for exercising his free speech rights, in violation of § 411. The jury found in favor of Black, and rendered a verdict of $40,000 against Local 519 and of $25,000 against Joint Council 87. The district court then denied the defendants' motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict. The court also denied Black's motion for attorney's fees.
Joint Council 87 and Local 519 appeal the merits of Black's § 411 claim. Black appeals the denial of his motion for attorney's fees. The appeals have been consolidated. For the reasons given below, we affirm the court's denial of Black's motion for attorney's fees. We also affirm the court's judgment with respect to the $40,000 verdict against Local 519. However, we reverse the district court's judgment with respect to the $25,000 verdict against Joint Council 87.
Prior to November 26, 1984, plaintiff Black was a truck driver for Ryder/P.I.E. Nationwide, Inc., and a member of Teamsters Local 519 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Black had been an active leader in a movement against the leadership of Local 519 by some members of the union. Black and his cohorts were attempting to make Local 519 more democratic in its dealings with the membership and, to end corruption within the Local. They were also involved in several other contentious problems involving Local 519. This dissension within Local 519 culminated in the establishment of a picket line around the local union hall on July 30-31 and August 13-14, 1984. Black's § 411 claim arose from the union's response to that picketing. More precisely, the action centers on the union's punishment of Black for leading and participating in the picketing.
Black and others testified that their reason for picketing the union hall was to bring the corruption of the Local 519 leadership to the attention of the International Union. The picketers contended that the incumbent local union officials misused union funds, used a scheduling device for laid-off union members, known as the out-of-work book, to reward their political friends and punish their political enemies, and were guilty of a variety of other types of misconduct and illegal activities. Black's active participation put him in conflict with the local leadership and with other Teamsters bodies. Black's decision to run for President of Local 519 only made matters worse.
On the morning of July 30, 1984, Black and other protesters gathered at the union hall and established a picket line and a protest group outside the hall. Many of the protesters parked their cars directly in front of the union hall. Jimmy Metts, the business agent for Local 519, was the first union official to come to work that day. As Metts drove up, several picketers, including Black, approached his car. The picketers told Metts that he was part of the problem in the local union. Metts left immediately and no other official returned to the hall that day. The picket line continued through the day and overnight.
On the morning of July 31, Alan Sharp, a union member, went to the hall to turn in some insurance papers. As he approached the hall, some unidentified picketers knocked him down. While Sharp was on the ground, several of the picketers kicked him and slapped him. That morning, local union officials went to court to obtain a restraining order against the picketers. Local 519 officers filed a complaint against the picketers, alleging that they had engaged in concerted action to prevent the officers and others from coming to the union business office and did so in a manner calculated to place the officers in fear for their personal safety. The Tennessee Chancery Court issued the restraining order and the picketers were required to leave the union hall. Black was not mentioned by name in the restraining order.
When the officers later tried to enter the union office, they found that some sort of glue or liquid metal had been poured into the locks on every door, making it impossible to enter the union hall. A locksmith had to be called to open the doors. At a later hearing, the Chancery Court made the temporary restraining order permanent. The order restrained the protestors from coming to the union hall for the purpose of blocking access to the union office or harassing members or officers.
After the TRO was made permanent, Black posted a notice calling for another protest at the union hall to begin on August 13. The picketers asked people not to cross their picket line. The local union officials claim that on the first day of the picket, protestors threatened a mother and her young son. Allegedly, an unidentified man with a knife and a whittling stick told the woman that it would be better if she did not enter the union hall, obviously attempting to intimidate her by prominently displaying his knife. The woman left without entering the hall.
The defendants also allege that the protestors threatened other people and kept them from entering the union hall. For instance, an attorney, Phillip Lawson, came to transact business with the local union on August 14. Lawson testified that the following exchange with a picketer took place when he tried to enter the hall:
Angry picketer: "Don't you recognize a fucking picket line?"
Lawson: "I've got some business to conduct with the local."
Picketer: "Well, I've got some fucking business to conduct with you."
The protestors were also allegedly carrying sticks and congregating around the cars of those who attempted to enter the union hall.
Following these events, the Executive Board of Local 519 brought charges against Black and the other protestors for their conduct during the four days of picketing, which allegedly interfered with union business. The Executive Board charged the group with violating the Teamsters Constitution by engaging in conduct that is "disruptive of, or interferes with, or induces others to disrupt or interfere with the performance of any union's legal or contractual obligations." Teamsters Constitution, Article XIX, 6(b)(5). The protestors were also charged with "[d]isruption of union meetings, or assaulting or provoking assault on fellow members or officers, or failing to follow the rules of order or rulings of the presiding officer at meetings of the local Union or any similar conduct in, or about, the union premises or places used to conduct union business." Article XIX, 6(b)(6).
Since the entire Executive Board of the Local Union wanted to bring charges against the picketers, the hearing on the charges was held before the next higher Teamster body, Joint Council 87. The hearing was held on September 14 and October 4, 1984, and a full transcript of the hearing was made. Black and the other picketers were convicted of both violations. They were suspended from the union for six months and fined $150. Black's fine was subsequently waived and he was reinstated to membership in Local 519 without making payment. (The year after this action was filed, the local union officers were voted out of office and the new leadership rescinded all formal discipline that had been imposed on Black.)
Black appealed the Joint Council's ruling to the Teamster's General Executive Board. The only issue raised on appeal was the protestors' contention that they were simply disseminating information in front of the local union hall and that their activity was therefore protected by § 101(a)(2) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C. § 411(a)(2). The General Executive Board, however, affirmed the findings of the Joint Council.
In addition to this disciplinary action taken by the local union officials and the Joint Council, Black claims that the local officials also took other retaliatory action against him because of his participation in the picketing. Black was discharged from his job...
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