Hobbs v. Lewis, Civ. A. No. 974-56.

• Decision Date: 24 February 1958
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 974-56.
• Citation: 159 F. Supp. 282
• Parties: Robert HOBBS, Plaintiff, v. John L. LEWIS, Josephine Roche, and Charles A. Owen, Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

159 F. Supp. 282

Robert HOBBS, Plaintiff, v. John L. LEWIS, Josephine Roche, and Charles A. Owen, Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 974-56.

United States District Court District of Columbia.

February 24, 1958.

Douglas A. Clark, Washington, D. C., Robert C. McEwan, David Tom Walker, Chattanooga, Tenn., for plaintiff.

Edward L. Carey, Harold H. Bacon, Charles L. Widman, Washington, D. C., for defendants.

PINE, District Judge.

This is an action for a judgment declaring that plaintiff is entitled to pension benefits under the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1950 and the trust known as the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, and for a money judgment against the Trustees of this Fund in the amount of $100 per month from the date of plaintiff's eligibility to benefits to the date of the judgment.

The Wage Agreement, above referred to, provides in brief that there shall be paid into a fund by each coal operator signatory thereto a sum of money per ton of coal produced, as did the preceding similar agreements; that the fund shall be operated by a Board of Trustees, shall be an irrevocable trust created pursuant to the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq., and shall endure so long as the purposes for its creation shall exist, which, among others, is the payment of pensions on retirement to employees of the operators; and that the Trustees shall have full authority within the provisions of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, in respect of coverage, eligibility, etc. Pursuant thereto the Trustees adopted a Resolution known as No. 10, providing regulations covering the payment of pensions, including eligibility.

The documentary evidence discloses the following facts: Plaintiff signed an application for a pension under this Fund dated April 1, 1949, and thereafter transmitted the same to the office of the Fund. By letter dated June 6, 1950, one of the Trustees of the Fund advised the plaintiff that they would look into his case and notify him at a later date as to their findings. By letter dated November 16, 1950, a director of a Compensation Department of the United Mine Workers of America advised plaintiff, among other things, that to be eligible for a pension under the Fund plaintiff was required to be a member in good standing of the United Mine Workers of America; that a special Membership Committee had ruled that he had lost his membership, and that the only way he could become a current member was to obtain employment and join the Union. In this connection it should be stated that defendants now concede that membership is not a requisite to eligibility and lack of membership is not one of their defenses. Finally, by letter dated June 12, 1951, counsel for the trustees notified the attorney for plaintiff, who apparently had made inquiry, that plaintiff had failed to meet the requirements for a pension and was not eligible therefor. No further explanation was given plaintiff, nor was there any request for further information.

Thereafter plaintiff filed suit in a state court of Tennessee, which was dismissed on the ground that the court was without jurisdiction since the situs of the trust was in the District of Columbia, and in 1954 the judgment of dismissal was affirmed. On March 6, 1956 he filed the present action in this court.

Plaintiff's "Application for Pension" is on a form prepared for the purpose by defendants. It requires detailed information, including the applicant's employment record and a certificate of a local union. In his application he listed his employment record from 1902 through 1948, and the officers of his local union executed the certificate in which they certified that the facts stated therein were true and correct to the best of their knowledge and belief, that the applicant was a member of the local union and had been a member thereof since June 16, 1946, and that to their knowledge he had worked regularly in the coal industry. Also, as part of the application, there was an authorization to the Social Security Administration to make available to the Welfare and Retirement Fund any information contained in plaintiff's Social Security account file.

When the case came on for hearing, the only testimony offered by plaintiff was his own, and on cross-examination it showed that his employment record as stated in his application conflicted with the Social Security records in respect of his statement that he worked for W. N. Mayse from February 1937 to September 1947. It then appeared that this conflict was the principal basis for the finding by the trustees that he was not eligible for a pension, although that reason, as above stated, was never communicated to him before this hearing.

Plaintiff is nearly illiterate, ill from arthritis and has failing eyesight, and his memory appears to be uncertain in many respects. His application was prepared by a storekeeper. Under these circumstances, I granted a continuance to give him an opportunity to take depositions or submit documentary evidence which might establish his employment record.

When the case came on again for hearing, depositions taken by plaintiff in the interim were received in evidence, and defendants also offered evidence in respect of his employment. From this, along with his own testimony, it appears without contradiction that, except for a short absence in a coal mining operation in Georgia, he has lived throughout his entire life in the coal mining region in and about Dunlap, Tennessee, and that coal mining, either as a digger or in affiliated activities such as mule driver, has been practically his sole source of livelihood.

Whether he has met the eligibility requirements of the trust, which I shall hereafter discuss, depends upon the totality of the evidence. The plaintiff contends that he has, and the defendant contends that he is and has been a drunkard and has only worked sporadically in the mines.

None of the witnesses who testified by deposition after the continuance had records of any kind and relied solely on their memory. Most of them have little education, have devoted their lives to work with their hands in the mines, and are men whose whole background is foreign to the keeping of records. I, therefore, place little weight on this failure to produce records, which is stressed by defendants as one of the bases for considering their testimony to be suspect. In the case of those witnesses who testified that they had kept records, but that they had been lost or destroyed, the failure to produce would seem to be satisfactorily explained when it is considered that it is not reasonably to be expected that they would be preserved over the span of years here involved. Even the most prudent business man could hardly be expected to be answerable at the risk of having his testimony discounted for failing to preserve records 15 or 20 or more years old. The records of the Social Security Administration were received in evidence and have been given the credence they deserve, although it might be questionable whether in the case of small operators, certainly in the first years of Social Security, the reports were faithfully made, and the lack of Social Security records for plaintiff also might be explained by the leasing and subcontracting system which was in vogue and raised doubts as to the identity of the employer. These considerations are mentioned as bearing on whether plaintiff has established his eligibility for a pension under the trust, as set forth in Resolution 10, above mentioned, which I shall now discuss.

The first requirement is that the applicant must have attained the age of 60 years or over at the time of his application for pension. On this there is no dispute.

The second requirement is that he must have retired or permanently ceased work in the bituminous coal industry after May 28, 1946. On this there is...