DeLong v. International Union, C-3-84-135.

• Decision Date: 07 May 1993
• Docket Number: No. C-3-84-135.,C-3-84-135.
• Citation: 850 F. Supp. 614
• Parties: David C. DeLONG, et al., Plaintiffs, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

850 F. Supp. 614

David C. DeLONG, et al., Plaintiffs, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, et al., Defendants.

No. C-3-84-135.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, W.D.

May 7, 1993.

Kantilal Chaganlal Kotecha, Anthony Bryan Pennington, Pennington & Kotecha, Springfield, OH, for plaintiffs.

Frederick Gerald Cloppert, Jr., Cloppert, Portman, Sauter, Latanick & Foley, Columbus, OH, for Intern. Union, United Auto, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers, Local 402.

Frederick Gerald Cloppert, Jr., Cloppert, Portman, Sauter, Latanick & Foley, Columbus, OH, for John Minchin, Dan Jackson.

David Stewart Cupps, Anne Campbell Griffin, Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease, Columbus, OH, for International Harvester Co., Navistar Intern. Corp.

Frederick Gerald Cloppert, Jr., Cloppert, Portman, Sauter, Latanick & Foley, Columbus, OH, for Stephen P. Yokich.

DECISION AND ENTRY OVERRULING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR JUDGMENT OR FOR A NEW TRIAL (DOC. #303); THIS DECISION AND ENTRY IS NOT A FINAL APPEALABLE ORDER

RICE, District Judge.

This class action, brought by eight present and former employees of International Harvester Corporation, now Navistar International Transportation Corporation ("Navistar"), arises out of the financial difficulties which Navistar experienced in the early 1980's.¹ As a result of those financial difficulties and the real fear that Navistar would be forced into bankruptcy, the Navistar negotiating committee of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America ("International Union" or "U.A.W."), in early 1982, opened negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement ("CBA"), even though the CBA that was then in effect would not expire until October, 1982. The negotiations bore fruit. On April 29, 1982, the negotiating committee and Navistar reached tentative agreement on a new CBA. In addition to reaching tentative agreement on a new CBA, the parties, at the same time, executed Supplemental Letters of Understanding ("Supplemental Letters") which created a Master Recall List, under which union employees of Navistar who had lost their jobs as a result of plant closings or partial plant closings were allowed to transfer to openings at other Navistar facilities and to dovetail their seniority with or into that of employees at the facility to which they had transferred. Dovetailing refers to a process of retaining prior bargaining unit seniority when transferring to a new facility. The CBA and the Supplemental Letters were ratified nationally and by members of Local 402 of the International Union.

More than one year after the new CBA and the Supplemental Letters were ratified, Navistar and the U.A.W., on September 15, 1983, executed a letter ("September 15th letter") which resolved a grievance between them. Under the September 15th letter, a small number of persons, who were on layoff when the plants from which they had been laid-off were closed, were allowed to transfer and to dovetail their seniority.²

On February 24, 1984, Plaintiffs initiated this action by filing their complaint.³ After much preliminary jousting, Plaintiffs were directed to file a second amended complaint. In their second amended complaint (Doc. #103), filed on November 1, 1985, Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants⁴ violated their rights under federal and state law by the process of negotiating the 1982 CBA and the Supplemental Letters and by the process by which they were ratified. In their second amended complaint, Plaintiffs alleged for the first time that the Defendants violated their rights by executing the September 15th letter. In its Decision of August 26, 1991 (Doc. #262), this Court reviewed the procedural history of this case up to that date. That review will not be repeated herein. At that time, two classes of claims remained.⁵ First, Plaintiffs had claims against the Union Defendants under § 101(a)(1) of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. § 411(a)(1), and the U.A.W. constitution arising out of the ratification of the 1982 CBA and the Supplemental Letters. Second, Plaintiffs had claims against all Defendants under § 301 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 185, arising out of the September 15th letter.⁶

The Court bifurcated the trials of the two remaining classes of claims, with the claims under § 101(a)(1) and the U.A.W. constitution proceeding first.⁷ The claims alleging a violation of § 101(a)(1) and breach of the U.A.W. constitution were tried over a ten day period in October and November, 1991. The Court submitted the case to a jury on interrogatories.⁸ See Doc. #298. This Court submitted six interrogatories to the jury. Three of the interrogatories (numbers 1, 2 and 3) related to Plaintiffs' § 101(a)(1) claim, and the other three (numbers 4, 5 and 6) related to their claim under the U.A.W. constitution.⁹ Interrogatory number 1 asked the jury whether the class had proved by the preponderance of the evidence that the U.A.W. had violated their right to cast a meaningful vote during the May 1, 1982, ratification meeting.¹⁰ Interrogatory number 2 asked the same question with respect to Jackson. The jury answered "yes" to both interrogatories 1 and 2. Interrogatory number 3 introduced the concept of proximate cause and asked the jury whether the class had proved by the preponderance of the evidence that the Supplemental Letters would not have been adopted nationally if they had not been denied their meaningful right to vote by the U.A.W. and/or Jackson. The jury answered "no" to interrogatory number 3. Interrogatory number 4 asked the jury whether the class had proved by the preponderance of the evidence that the U.A.W. violated the U.A.W. constitution. Interrogatory number 5 asked the same question with respect to Jackson. The jury answered "yes" to both interrogatories 4 and 5. Interrogatory number 6, like interrogatory number 3, introduced the concept of proximate cause and asked the jury whether the class had proved by the preponderance of the evidence that the Supplemental Letters would not have been adopted nationally if the U.A.W. constitution had not been violated by the U.A.W. and/or Jackson. The jury answered "no" to interrogatory number 6.

This case is now before the Court on Plaintiffs' motion for judgment, new trial and related relief (Doc. #303), arising out of the trial conducted in the fall of 1991, in which they seek to have the Court enter judgment, on the basis of the jury's answers to interrogatories, in their favor on their claims under § 101(a)(1) and the U.A.W. constitution, or, in the alternative, to grant them a new trial on those claims.¹¹ The present motion involves interrogatories numbers 3 and 6, as well as the Court's instructions relating to proximate cause. In those instructions (Doc. #296 at 3004 and 4003), the Court instructed the jury that, for either the U.A.W. and/or Jackson to be liable or legally responsible to the class, the class had to prove that the alleged violation of their rights under § 101(a)(1) and the U.A.W. constitution had caused the harm of which the class complained.¹² The Court also instructed the jury that the harm of which the Plaintiffs complained was the adoption of the Supplemental Letters; therefore, the Court told the jury to decide whether the violation of § 101(a)(1) and/or the U.A.W. constitution caused the Supplemental Letters to be adopted nationally.

Before discussing Plaintiffs' arguments in support of their motion and the responses of the U.A.W. and Jackson,¹³ the Court will briefly set forth the nature of the claims that the class asserted in the phase of this case that went to trial in October and November of 1991. The claims tried in this phase of this case, as did most claims asserted herein, arose out of the ratification of the Supplemental Letters in May, 1982, with the creation of its Master Recall list. In particular, Plaintiffs contended that the Supplemental Letters, by allowing Navistar employees who transferred into the Springfield plants to dovetail their seniority, harmed the seniority rights of the members of the class. Plaintiffs and the class they represented asserted that the manner in which notice regarding the ratification meeting was given and the manner in which that meeting was conducted violated their right under § 101(a)(1) to cast meaningful votes and their rights under the U.A.W. constitution. The Plaintiffs and the class sought to recover damages from the U.A.W. and Jackson in an amount which would compensate each member of the class for the difference in salary and benefits received after the adoption of the Supplemental Letters and the amount each would have received if the Supplemental Letters had not been adopted.¹⁴

In support of their motion for judgment or for a new trial (Doc. #303), Plaintiffs argue that proximate cause was not an element of their claims and, alternatively, that even if proximate cause was an element of those claims, interrogatories 3 and 6, and the Court's corresponding instructions (3004 and 4003) incorrectly defined the element of proximate cause.¹⁵ Initially, the Court notes that it can sustain the motion, to the extent that Plaintiffs seek to have the Court enter judgment on their behalf, only if proximate cause was not an element of their claims. In other words, if Plaintiffs were only required to prove that the U.A.W. and/or Jackson violated § 101(a)(1) and/or the U.A.W. constitution (which the jury found that the class did prove) in order to recover damages, then the Court could enter judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs even though they had failed to prove that the violations were the proximate cause of the harm they claimed to have suffered. If, on the other hand, proximate cause was an element of their claims and the Plaintiffs are correct in their assertion that the Court incorrectly formulated the element of proximate cause, then they are entitled to a new trial (rather than entry of judgment) with the jury being properly instructed on that element.¹⁶

With...