Gilchrist v. United Mine Workers of America, 14379

• Decision Date: 01 May 1961
• Docket Number: 14380.,No. 14379,14379
• Citation: 290 F.2d 36
• Parties: William G. GILCHRIST, Jr., William G. Gilchrist, III, and James Blythe, Trustee for Robert A. Gilchrist, a Minor, Partners, d.b.a. Gilchrist & Sons; and G & R Coal Co., Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellant. SNYDER AND RANDOLPH, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

290 F.2d 36 (1961)

William G. GILCHRIST, Jr., William G. Gilchrist, III, and James Blythe, Trustee for Robert A. Gilchrist, a Minor, Partners, d.b.a. Gilchrist & Sons; and G & R Coal Co., Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellant.

SNYDER AND RANDOLPH, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 14379, 14380.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

May 1, 1961.

Logan E. Patterson, Pineville, Ky. (James S. Greene, Jr., Harlan, Ky., Robert S. Young, Jr., Howard H. Baker, Jr.; Baker, Young, Young & Baker, Knoxville, Tenn., on the brief), for appellees.

E. H. Rayson and R. R. Kramer, Knoxville, Tenn. (Willard P. Owens, Washington, D. C., William J. Turnblazer, Middlesboro, Ky., Kramer, Dye, McNabb & Greenwood, Knoxville, Tenn., on the brief), for appellant.

Before McALLISTER, WEICK and O'SULLIVAN, Circuit Judges.

WEICK, Circuit Judge.

Gilchrist & Sons, a partnership, and G & R Coal Company, Inc., a corporation, instituted action in the District Court against United Mine Workers of America, a labor organization,¹ to recover compensatory and punitive damages for the alleged violation of the secondary boycott provisions of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 as amended. 29 U.S.C.A. § 187. It was averred in the complaint that the plaintiffs were engaged in the mining of bituminous coal in the Jellico, Tennessee-Kentucky area; that in March 1959 and subsequent thereto UMW induced their employees to concertedly refuse to work on coal produced by other employers and induced the employees of other employers to concertedly refuse to work on coal which was to be brought to plaintiffs' premises; that the purpose of such conduct was to compel plaintiffs to bargain with UMW as the representative of their employees although the Union had not been certified as a representative of said employees by the National Labor Relations Board as required by the Act. Plaintiffs' causes of action were based on the provisions of the Act and also the common law of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Snyder & Randolph, Inc., a corporation, filed a similar action on the same day in the District Court.

The two cases were tried together by the District Judge without a jury from June 20, 1960 through June 30, 1960. The District Judge handed down a comprehensive opinion which contained a summary of the evidence and adopted forty-two findings of fact and twenty conclusions of law. It appears on seventy-nine pages of the printed record. The District Judge found in favor of all the plaintiffs; that Gilchrist & Sons, the partnership, is entitled to recover $239,000 compensatory damages and $79,000 punitive damages making a total of $318,000; that G & R is entitled to recover compensatory damages in the amount of $20,000 and $7,000 punitive damages making a total of $27,000; that Snyder and Randolph is entitled to recover compensatory damages in the amount of $101,000 and $33,000 punitive damages making a total of $134,000. Judgments were entered in favor of the plaintiffs in accordance with these findings.

The partnership owned valuable leases on coal mining lands comprising about 37,750 acres in the Jellico area. It also owned mining machinery, equipment and facilities. It had been engaged in the mining and sale of coal for several years. G & R was organized as a corporation in 1957. It was a closed corporation. The members of the partnership were its principal officers, directors and shareholders. Shortly after its organization G & R entered in a contract with the partnership whereby the partnership agreed to furnish G & R with sites in the Jellico area for the strip mining of coal and also to furnish and maintain the necessary machinery, equipment and facilities therefor, G & R, for a stipulated price, agreed to strip mine and prepare the coal furnishing all labor and supervision therefor and to load the coal after preparation on the partnership's chosen method of conveyance. The partnership also subleased lands to G & R which in turn subleased to others for auger mining and deep coal mining. G & R subleased lands to Snyder & Randolph for auger mining. Snyder & Randolph entered into an agreement with the partnership to sell it all coal produced under the sublease and the partnership agreed to account for all sales less a commission of 5% for selling and 7 1/2% for crushing and handling the coal. The coal mined by G & R and Snyder and Randolph was carried from the mines to tipples by independent truckers who were not employees of the plaintiffs.

Prior to the present controversy, G & R and its predecessor had signed the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement and various amendments with UMW. Some of its employees belonged to the Union, but a majority did not. The Union and the employees had little, if any, dealings and G & R paid the employees the same wages it paid its other employees engaged in road work without regard to Union pay scales and other conditions of employment. Snyder & Randolph had no contractual relationship with the Union although some of its employees were members.

In December 1958 UMW negotiated an amended wage agreement with certain coal operators and sent notice that any signers of the old agreement would be expected to sign the new amended agreement and the old agreement would be cancelled at the end of 60 days. G & R believed that it could not operate under the new amended agreement and refused to sign it. G & R notified UMW of its cancellation of the old agreement as of March 2, 1959. Snyder & Randolph likewise refused to sign the new agreement.

In February 1959, the agents and representatives of UMW began an intensive campaign in southeastern Kentucky and northeastern Tennessee to organize the field. They instructed G & R employees not to work after the old contract expired. They told Snyder & Randolph that if they did not sign the amended agreement "we will shut you down." They stated that they took orders from Washington and intended to use whatever means were needed to carry them out. They contacted truck owners and...