Denver Milk Producers, Inc. v. International Broth. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers' Union

• Decision Date: 19 May 1947
• Docket Number: 15776.
• Citation: 183 P.2d 529,116 Colo. 389
• Parties: DENVER MILK PRODUCERS, Inc., et al. v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS' UNION et al.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

183 P.2d 529

116 Colo. 389

DENVER MILK PRODUCERS, Inc., et al. v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS' UNION et al.

No. 15776.

Supreme Court of Colorado, en Banc.

May 19, 1947

Rehearing Denied July 7, 1947.

Error to District Court, City and County of Denver; Joseph J Walsh, Judge.

Actions by the Denver Milk Producers, Inc., and others against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs Warehousemen and Helpers' Union and others, to restrain defendants from doing certain acts. To review a judgment which sustained defendnats' motion to dismiss, the plaintiffs bring error.

Reversed and remanded with instructions.

STONE and HILLIARD, JJ., dissenting in part.

The issuance of permanent injunctions restraining unions and their members from engaging in secondary boycott, picketing etc., could not be refused on theory that they would be deprived of their rights under the First, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution. Laws 1943 c. 131, §§ 2(7), 16; U.S. C.A.Const. Amends. 1, 13, 14.

Kenneth W. Robinson, Robert Swanson and R. Hickman Walker, all of Denver, for plaintiff in error.

Philip Hornbein and Philip Hornbein, Jr., both of Denver, for defendants in error.

H. Lawrence Hinkley, Atty. Gen., Duke W. Dunbar, Deputy Atty. Gen., Barbara Lee and George K. Thomas, Asst. Attys. Gen., amici curiae.

HAYS Justice.

During the month of September, 1945, five cases were filed in the district court of the City and County of Denver, allegedly growing out of the activities of the defendants in the attempt to unionize certain of plaintiffs and their employees engaged in hauling, processing and distributing milk in the Denver area. Said suits were entitled: Denver Milk Producers, Inc., plaintiffs, v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers Union et al., defendants, Case No. A-45099; Harold Hennigh, E. W. Johnson, O. T. Holland and Eston Buster, plaintiffs, v. The International Brotherhood et al., defendants, Case No. A-45091, Div. 1; Carl A. Borgmann and Walter Borgmann, d. b. a. Borgmann Bros., L. C. Austin and F. S. Austin, d. b. a. Austin Bros., plaintiffs, v. The International Brotherhood et al., defendants, Case No. A-45106, Div. 1; Joseph Green, plaintiff v. The International Brotherhood et al., defendants, Case No. A-45112, Div. 2; and Flora A. Beach et al., plaintiffs, v. Milk Drivers' and Dairy Employees' Local Union No. 537, The International Brotherhood et al., defendants, Case No. A-45223, Div. 3. In the last case mentioned plaintiffs made application for, and were granted, a temporary restraining order, enjoining defendants from the doing of certain things hereinafter mentioned. Upon the issuance of the restraining order in the Beach case, it was agreed by and between all the parties that said order should extend to each and all of said five cases. Since the restraining order was entered in the Beach case, we set forth herein the essential parts of the complaint therein, as follows:

'14. That on or about July 31, 1945 all of the defendants except the Retail Clerks Union and the Bricklayers Union entered into a conspiracy and agreement to prevent the delivery of milk to this Company and other non-union dairies, and to prevent the processing, sale and delivery of said milk by this Company and other dairies to their customers in Denver and in the Denver milk-shed, unless and until this Company, the Carriers, Farmer-Producers and other dairies joined Local No. 537. That in pursuance of said plan they agreed among other things, to do and perform the following acts:

'(a) To employ and train groups of Union men as pickets to carry out any and all orders of the officers of the defendant Teamsters and Drivers' Union;

'(b) To cause said pickets to follow nonunion drivers of the Carriers while on their routes collecting milk;

'(c) To prevent individual Farmer-Producers from hauling and delivering any of their own milk products to any dairy in the milk-shed unless such farmer is a member of Local No. 537;

'(d) To prevent any Carrier from employing non-union drivers to work in the milk-shed, and in Denver, and to prevent any such driver from handling any milk therein;

'(e) To cause said pickets to intercept and stop all non-union drivers Before they enter the grounds of or at the unloading docks of all dairies, whether union or nonunion;

'(f) To order, instruct and stop all union drivers from delivering any milk to non-union dairies;

'(g) To intimidate all non-union Carriers and their non-union drivers from collecting milk from Farmer-Producers and unloading their milk at all dairies, and to accomplish the same by brawn, display of force, threats, coercion, force, blockades, interference, mass picketing, fraud, and false representations;

'(h) To intimidate and coerce all Farmer-Producers and dairies which own herds from shipping their milk by non-union Carriers and to require them to change to union Carriers when such union Carriers operate in the territory of such herds.

'(i) To unionize all non-union dairies in the milk-shed and Denver, including this Company, whether their employees desire this action or not;

'(j) To unionize and completely control and dominate the handling of all milk in the Denver area, regardless of the rights, privileges and desires of this Company, the Farmer-Producers, Carriers, drivers, the dairies and their employees, food store employees and the general public.

'(k) To compel employees of all union food stores, including Piggly Wiggly Stores, to refuse to handle non-union milk if the same is delivered to and sold at the stores where they are employed and to picket said stores if it is so delivered and sold.

'(1) To use and employ secondary boycotts in connection with said plan.

'(m) To caues great financial losses to plaintiffs, Farmer-Producers, Carriers and dairies unless and until they join the Union and obey its rules and regulations.

'15. That part of said plan and conspiracy was put into effect from July 31 to August 2, 1945, and then suspended to September 2, when the plan was again inaugurated, and since then the same has been rapidly developed and is daily becoming more and more effective. That in pursuance of said plan defendants have now acted and put into effect the operations necessary to accomplish those portions of the plan as described in paragraph 14, sub-paragraphs (a) to (h) inclusive, (j) to (m) inclusive, and the remainder of the plan will be put into operation in the near future unless enjoined by the order of this court.

'16. That said pickets have been employed and trained and put to work; that they have followed non-union drivers on their routes while collecting milk; have prevented non-union Farmer-Producers from hauling and delivering their own milk to dairies; have prevented non-union drivers from handling milk in the milkshed; have caused pickets to intercept and stop non-union drivers; have ordered and prevented all union drivers from delivering milk to non-union dairies; have ordered employees of union dairies to refuse to process and handle non-union milk; have intimidated non-union Carriers and nonunion drivers from unloading their milk at Denver dairies, and have employed and used brawn, display of force, threats, coercion, force, blockades, interference, mass picketing, secondary boycotts, fraud and false representations in connection therewith; have intimidated and coerced herd owners from shipping milk by non-union Carriers and have required them to change to union Carriers; have caused great financial losses to plaintiffs, Farmer-Producers, Carriers and Dairies.

'17. That among the false and fraudulent representations made by defendants are the following:

'(a) Statements by said pickets to Carriers and drivers that other Carriers or all the other drivers of the Carrier (except the driver accosted,) have joined the Union, and for that reason the said driver should join.

'(b) Statements by said pickets that Walter C. Moore, the manager of Denver Milk Producers, Inc. desires that all Carriers and drivers should join the union.

'18. That all of said statements were false, were made with the intent that they be acted upon and they were so acted upon; that in many cases membership was secured by reason of said statements, and all without regard to the rights, privileges and desires of the plaintiffs, Farmer-Producer, Carriers, drivers, dairies, dairy employees, and the public in general.

'19. That the defendants the three Teamsters and Drivers Unions, their officers and members, since September 10th, have directed the following activities against this Company in addition to those enumerated in paragraphs 14 to 18 inclusive:

'(a) They have picketed the docks of this Company where milk is unloaded by the Carriers from entering the dock area and from unloading; have prevented all trucks driven by Union drivers for the Carriers from there unloading and ordered them not so to do, with the result that a large amount of milk consigned by the Farmer-Producers to this Company has been diverted elsewhere and lost to this Company.

'(b) They have demanded that the Company sign a union contract with Local No. 537. That because part of the ownership of the Company is in the estate proceedings in the County Court, the three Teamsters and Drivers Unions prepared and exhibited to the Company a temporary agreement with Local No. 537. This required the Company to abide by all Union rules and regulations until December 31, 1945, when the estate will be closed, and then enter into the regular formal printed contract of the Union. That signing the said temporary agreement would bind the Company to agree to all the terms of

...