Gomez v. United Office and Professional Workers, Civil Action No. 3019—47.

Decision Date31 July 1947
Docket NumberCivil Action No. 3019—47.
Citation73 F. Supp. 679
PartiesGOMEZ v. UNITED OFFICE AND PROFESSIONAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, LOCAL 16, et al.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Columbia

Posner, Berge, Fox & Arent, of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.

Joseph Forer, of Washington, D. C., for defendants.

LAWS, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff, Ethel M. Gomez, is the owner and operator of a dance studio in Washington, D. C., which sells dancing instruction to the general public and which is operated under the name and style of "Arthur Murray Studios of Washington, D. C."

Arthur Murray, a well known dancing instructor, owns and operates dance studios in New York, New York, and invents and develops dance routines and teaching methods.

Plaintiff, by the terms of an agreement with said Arthur Murray, dated November 1, 1941, is licensed to use in the District of Columbia and Virginia the name of "Arthur Murray" in connection with her business, to use Arthur Murray's teaching methods and to use promotion material and publicity criginated by said Arthur Murray, in return for the payment to Murray of a percentage of the gross weekly receipts of plaintiff's business.

The licensing agreement requires plaintiff to submit the names of all dancing instructors to be employed by her to Arthur Murray for his approval and to honor unused portions of dancing lessons paid for and unused by pupils enrolled in Arthur Murray's studios in New York or in other studios licensed by him.

Plaintiff has no financial interest in or control over dance studios operated by Arthur Murray in New York or licensed by him elsewhere.

Except as hereinbefore stated, Arthur Murray has no financial interest in and does not exercise control over plaintiff's business.

Defendant United Office and Professional Workers of America, CIO, Local 16, hereinafter called the union, is a labor organization which includes in its membership and represents as a labor union, certain dancing teachers employed by Arthur Murray in his New York dance studios. Said union has been certified by the New York State Labor Relations Board as the sole collective-bargaining representative of the dancing instructors of Arthur Murray's New York studios.

Defendant Anne Forsyth is a dancing instructor employed by Arthur Murray in his New York studios and is a member of said union.

Defendants and the dance studios of Arthur Murray in New York are engaged in a controversy concerning the terms and conditions of employment of Arthur Murray's dancing instructors in New York. This controversy concerns minimum wages, union recognition, job security, grievance procedure and an alleged lockout of dancing instructors employed in the New York studio. This controversy resulted in a strike of certain dancing instructors of Arthur Murray's New York studio on July 9, 1947, and in the picketing of said studios.

On July 22, 1947, defendant Anne Forsyth and two other striking union members, Monica Keating and Victor DeGennaro, came to Washington, D. C., from New York and began to picket the establishment of plaintiff. The picketing continued on July 23 and 24; on the 24th the three pickets were joined by about 15 other persons from CIO unions in Washington. The picketing of plaintiff's place of business was accompanied by the display of placards and the distribution of handbills to induce the public not to patronize plaintiff's place of business.

One of the objects of the picketing was to induce the public not to patronize plaintiff's establishment. It is claimed by the defendants that it is their object to inform the public of the union side of its labor dispute with Arthur Murray in New York. The picketers displayed placards and handbills. The handbills carry in large print at the top the caption "We are Arthur Murray Teachers" with a statement below in smaller print "from his main New York Studio at 342 Madison Avenue and 11 E. 43rd Street." In large print on the same handbill is the caption "Why We Picket Here" beside which are specified a number of alleged reasons which, if applied to the plaintiff, would charge her with actions and attitudes which would excite the condemnation of a large portion of the general public and would tend to discourage prospective customers from doing business with the plaintiff. None of these statements are true if applied to the plaintiff. The statements are calculated to cause persons reading them to believe that the plaintiff's establishment is a party to a labor dispute and that the plaintiff's establishment has been involved in the acts, attitudes and practices set forth in the placards and has caused customers and prospective customers to believe that the plaintiff was involved in a dispute.

None of defendants is employed by plaintiff.

Defendants do not represent, or seek to represent, plaintiff's employees.

Defendants do not seek employment for themselves or others at plaintiff's place of business.

Defendants do not seek to alter or affect the terms and conditions of employment at plaintiff's studio.

The picketers did not induce or encourage the employees of the plaintiff to engage in a strike or a concerted refusal in the...

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10 cases
  • DeGregory v. Giesing
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
    • 16 d3 Março d3 1977
    ...807, 86 L.Ed. 1143 (1942); Thornhill v. Alabama, supra, 310 U.S. at 105, 60 S.Ct. 736; Gomez v. United Office and Professional Workers of America, CIO, Local 16, 73 F.Supp. 679, 683 (D.D.C.1947). The statute specifically leaves open to labor picketing the most appropriate places for communi......
  • Jones v. Demoulas Super Markets, Inc.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • 7 d4 Março d4 1974
    ...Norris-LaGuardia Act. There is some authority for precisely the opposite conclusion. See, e.g., Gomez v. United Office & Professional Wkrs. of America, CIO, Local 16, 73 F.Supp. 679 (D.D.C.1947); Pacific Gamble Robinson Co. v. Minneapolis & St. Louis Ry., 85 F.Supp. 65 (D.Minn.1949); Erie R......
  • Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Northern Pacific Term. Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Oregon
    • 30 d2 Junho d2 1953
    ...Packers Association, Inc. v. Hinton, 1942, 315 U.S. 143, 147, 62 S. Ct. 520, 86 L.Ed. 750; Gomez v. United Office and Professional Workers of America, CIO Local 16, D.C., 1947, 73 F.Supp. 679; Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company v. Sillampa, 18 CCH Lab.Cas. No. 65,843 (D.C.N.M.194......
  • Ashley, Drew & Northern Ry. Co. v. United Transp. Union and Its Affiliated Local No. 1121
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • 9 d3 Julho d3 1980
    ...required interest. Otherwise no relationship to a labor dispute would exist between the two."); Gomez v. United Office & Professional Workers Local 16, 73 F.Supp. 679, 681-82 (D.D.C.1947) (labor dispute not involved; picketing of plaintiff dance studio enjoinable where plaintiff has "no fin......
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