Cook v. Collins
| Decision Date | 25 May 1948 |
| Docket Number | 9922. |
| Citation | 48 S.E.2d 161,131 W.Va. 475 |
| Parties | COOK et al. v. COLLINS et al. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
A circuit court of this State has jurisdiction to hear and determine a suit which involves contractual rights respecting control of the money and property of, and membership in, an unincorporated association functioning as a labor union.
Stathers & Cantrall and W. G. Stathers, all of Clarksburg, and Richard Lyman, of Toledo, Ohio, for appellants.
Wyatt & Randolph, of Clarksburg, for appellees.
This suit was instituted in the Circuit Court of Harrison County for the purpose of vindicating the asserted rights of plaintiffs to direct the internal affairs of Local Union No 569 of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union of North America and to obtain control of the money and other property belonging to said local union.
The American Flint Glass Workers' Union of North America which hereinafter will be designated as 'national association', is a voluntary, unincorporated association national in its scope, and has a number of local unions under its jurisdiction. The national association has two divisions, namely, the skilled workers' division and the miscellaneous division. Local Union No. 569, which will be hereinafter designated as 'local union', is likewise an unincorporated association, and is included in the miscellaneous division of the national association.
Plaintiff Harry H. Cook is the president of the national association and Charles H.
Sheff, Arthur Elbert, Clark Gamble, and Albert Vottero are the secretary, assistant secretary, and national representatives, respectively, of said association. Plaintiffs, Hobart Williams, John Biafore, Leota Hyde, Guy L. Day, Joe Romano, Dave Tipper, Albert Lockhart, Fred L. Harbert, Smith, Brown, and Pearl Cook are members of the local union. Some of the last-mentioned plaintiffs claim to be the rightful officers of said local union. Plaintiffs brought this suit in behalf of all members of the national association.
Defendants, Carl E. Collins, Richard L. Frazier, Donald N. Huber, Baxter Moran, Ruth Johnson, and Daisy Fuller, were, in the year 1944, respectively, the president, vice president, financial secretary of the local union, and the three last-named were trustees of said union. Said defendants aver in their answer that, at the time the said answer was filed, they were the lawful holders of said offices in the local union. Defendants Collins and Moran were also members of the executive board of the miscellaneous division of the national association.
The membership of the local union, numbering approximately eleven hundred persons, were employees of the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company and Clarksburg Paper Company at Clarksburg, West Virginia. The labor policies of the two corporations are determined by the officers and agents of the glass company. According to findings of fact made by the National Labor Relations Board, made a part of the record in this suit, the glass company and the paper company produce articles which are sold in interestate commerce.
The defendant Collins, who seems to have been influential in the affairs of the local union, was discharged in the year 1943. He made an unsuccessful attempt to procure reinstatement. Following such failure, defendants, together with a number of their fellow-members, created considerable agitation in the local union to transfer their allegiance to the Federation of Glass, Ceramic and Silica Sand Workers of America, an affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and a rival organization of the national association, which will be hereinafter designated as 'federation'.
Defendant Collins called a meeting of the local union on August 3, 1944, at which time the local union made an effort to change the bargaining agent for the glass and paper companies and their employees, from the national association to the federation. At a meeting of the local union held on September 5, 1944, a motion was adopted that no more dues should be paid to the national association after the pay-period ending September 2, 1944. At another meeting of the local union held on September 12, 1944, it was decided by a majority vote of the members present that no officers of the local union should be nominated and elected until after 'the labor board election.' The phrase 'labor board election' evidently referred to the proceeding then pending before the National Labor Relations Board.
In the meantime the officers of the national association, then in Clarksburg, in an effort to prevent a possible disruption of the local union, rented space for the collection of dues, notwithstanding the action of the membership of the local union. Said officers also called a meeting of the local union to be held at the Masonic Temple Building on September 20, 1944. At such meeting defendants, Collins, Moran and a number of their adherents, created such disorder that no meeting was held at that time and place. After the unsuccessful attempt to hold the meeting on September 20, 1944, notice was given that a meeting of the local union membership would be held at the Waldo Hotel in Clarksburg on October 13, 1944. At that meeting those persons, including Collins and others, who had paid dues only to the pay-period ending September 2, 1944, were excluded by action of the officers of the national association. A number of persons outside the room demanded admittance, and were either prevented from attendance by the crowded doorway or refused admittance. The meeting held by the officers of the national association in the ballroom of the Waldo Hotel nominated a complete set of officers for the local union.
While the meeting in the room was in progress, Collins held another meeting in the corridor outside the room, at which about one hundred and twenty-five persons were present. The meeting held by the defendant Collins denounced the meeting held inside the room as illegal.
After the first meeting was adjourned, arrangements were made by the national officers to hold another meeting in the evening of October 13, in a room on the sixth floor of the Waldo Hotel. The change from the ballroom to the sixth floor was occasioned by complaints of the management of the hotel because of the disorder at the first meeting and some destruction of property. At the second meeting, which was attended by about thirty-two members of the local union, two persons who had been nominated for offices in the local union withdrew their names, and there being no opposition to the remaining persons nominated at the first meeting, they were elected by acclamation.
The national association's president, Cook, certified that the persons so elected on October 13, 1944, were the proper officers of the union, and said persons demanded the papers, books, money and other property belonging to the local union. The demand so made was refused by the defendants.
A petition having been filed by the federation with the National Labor Relations Board concerning the representation of the employees of Hazel-Atlas Glass Company and Clarksburg Paper Company, a hearing was had on said petition. After the hearing, other proceedings were had on said petition, which resulted in the labor board dismissing the petition on December 1, 1944, and a finding that the representation requested by the federation was 'inappropriate.'
In the month of December, 1944, defendant Collins called a meeting of the local union to be held on December 19, 1944, for the purpose of electing officers for the ensuing year.
This suit was then instituted, and plaintiffs moved for an injunction to enjoin the meeting called by Collins. The injunction was refused by the trial court. On application to this Court the injunction was granted. Thereafter numerous hearings were had, and voluminous depositions were taken and exhibits filed.
After the hearings had been completed, by leave of court plaintiffs amended their bill of complaint, alleging that certain of the plaintiffs had been elected to various offices of the local union at the last regular meeting held...
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