Hoffman v. Inn Credible Caterers

• Decision Date: 01 August 2000
• Docket Number: Docket No. 00-6235
• Citation: 247 F.3d 360
• Parties: (2nd Cir. 2001) Peter B. Hoffman, Regional Director of Region 34 of the National Labor Relations Board, for and on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Inn Credible Caterers, Ltd., Respondent-Appellee
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 360

247 F.3d 360 (2nd Cir. 2001)

Peter B. Hoffman, Regional Director of Region 34 of the National Labor Relations Board, for and on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Inn Credible Caterers, Ltd., Respondent-Appellee.

Docket No. 00-6235

August Term, 2000

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

Argued October 30, 2000

Decided: April 11, 2001

Appellant, on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, petitioned for appropriate injunctive relief under § 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act ordering appellee to bargain on an interim basis. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Richard Conway Casey, Judge, found that the requested relief was not just and proper.

Reversed and remanded.

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Laura T. Vazquez, Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, DC (Leonard R. Page, General Counsel; Mary Joyce Carlson, Deputy General Counsel; Barry J. Kearney, Associate General Counsel; Ellen A. Farrell, Deputy Assoc. General Counsel; Judith I. Katz, Ass't General Counsel), for Petitioner-Appellant.

Thomas R. Gibbons, Hartford, CT (Cody Jaffe, Jackson Lewis Schnitzler & Krupman), for Respondent-Appellee.

Before WALKER, Chief Judge, and OAKES and LEVAL, Circuit Judges.

OAKES, Senior Circuit Judge:

The National Labor Relations Board ("Board") appeals from the denial of its application for an injunction under § 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA" or the "Act"), 29 U.S.C. § 160(j) (1998), ordering Inn Credible Caterers, Ltd. ("ICC") to bargain with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 100 ("Union"). Applying this Circuit's two-prong § 10(j) injunction test, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Richard C. Casey, Judge, found that because the proposed injunction failed to satisfy the second prong, requiring that the injunctive relief be "just and proper," there was no need to inquire into the first prong, requiring that there be "reasonable cause" to believe that a violation of the Act was committed. We disagree with the district court's conclusion regarding the "just and proper" prong and find that the record amply supports reasonable cause. We therefore reverse and remand for entry of the requested injunction.

BACKGROUND

This action involves a dispute between ICC and the Union over a series of incidents that occurred at the Bear Mountain Inn (the "Inn"). The Inn is a full-service hotel and restaurant with banquet facilities located in Bear Mountain State Park in Rockland County, New York. The Inn is owned by Palisades Interstate Park Commission, but it has been privately managed and operated for over twenty years by Aramark, Inc. ("Aramark").

Aramark's contract with the State expired on March 7, 1999. On March 8, 1999, ICC assumed responsibilities for the Inn on a short-term basis and on a regular basis about six weeks thereafter. The Union has represented the Inn's employees for 40 years. In 1977, it was certified as the exclusive collective bargaining representative by the Board.

From the time ICC began to assume responsibilities for the Inn, it refused to recognize or to bargain with the Union. On March 3, 1999, upon learning of ICC's probable takeover, the Union sent a letter to ICC requesting a meeting. Two days later, the Union sent a second letter. ICC did not respond to either letter. On March 8, ICC posted a notice soliciting employment applications directly from workers and stating that "[e]ffective March 8, 1999," ICC would be handling operations at the Inn. On March 12, ICC met with Union organizers but refused to bargain with them, declaring that "there is no union, there is no need to meet."

At some point during the first week of May, an Inn employee handed the president of ICC a letter purportedly signed by a majority of Inn employees expressing their desire not to be represented by the Union.¹ Nothing is known regarding the author of this letter or the circumstances surrounding its creation. The letter states:

We the employees of Bear Mountain Inn do not wish at this time to be represented by Local 100 or any other Local Union. We appreciate what you've done for us in the past and we know that you have worked hard for us as well. Thank you.

On May 10, 1999, the Union filed a charge with the Board alleging that ICC committed unfair labor practices. The Regional Director then issued a complaint against ICC for refusing to bargain with the Union under § 8(a)(5) of the Act. On November 24, 1999, the Regional Director petitioned the district court for an injunction ordering ICC to bargain in good faith with the Union under 29 U.S.C. § 160(j) of the Act. On April 17, 2000, the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") rendered his decision finding that ICC violated §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5) of the Act. ICC appealed the ALJ's decision to the Board, and that appeal is currently pending. On May 30, 2000, the district court denied the Regional Director's petition for § 10(j) injunctive relief. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

We note at the outset that we are bound by the district court's findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous and that we review fully all conclusions of law, including findings of reasonable cause. See Silverman v. J.R.L. Food Corp., 196 F.3d 334, 335-36 (2d Cir. 1999) (citing Kaynard v. Mego Corp., 633 F.2d 1026, 1030 (2d Cir.1980)). We review the district court's determination of whether relief is just and proper for abuse of discretion, see Mego Corp., 633 F.2d at 1030, bearing in mind -- to use Judge Craven's words -- that a "judge's discretion is not boundless and must be exercised within the applicable rules of law or equity." Blackwelder Furniture Co. v. Seilig Mfg. Co., 550 F.2d 189, 193 (4th Cir. 1977), referred to and quoted in Henry J. Friendly, Indiscretion About Discretion, 31 EMORY L.J. 747, 777 (1982).

Prior to 1932, injunctions were commonly used by employers and granted by the courts to prevent union organization. In this context, they came to be perceived as a means of protecting the proprietary interests of the employers. After Congress passed the Norris-LaGuardia Act in 1932 and the NLRA in 1935, both of which limited court authority to intervene in labor disputes, the labor movement grew tremendously. In 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley amendments to the NLRA. These amendments returned some authority to the federal courts to intervene in labor disputes by granting injunctions. Subsection 10(j) is among these amendments.

An employer has a duty under § 8(a)(5) of the Act to bargain collectively with the chosen representative of a majority of its employees. See 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(5) (1998).² In certain circumstances, a successor employer is also under a legal duty to bargain with the union established under the predecessor employer. See Fall River Dyeing & Finishing Corp. v. NLRB, 482 U.S. 27, 36-41 (1987). In such cases, a successor employer who refuses to bargain with the predecessor union violates the Act. See id. at 41. Pending the Board's determination of whether a successor employer is a legal successor with a statutory duty to bargain, the Board can petition a federal district court for an injunction under § 10(j) of the Act, ordering the successor employer to bargain with the union until the Board renders its final determination. See 29 U.S.C. § 160(j).

In this Circuit, in order to issue a § 10(j) injunction, the district court must apply a two-prong test. First, the court must find reasonable cause to believe that unfair labor practices have been committed. Second, the court must find that the requested relief is just and proper. See Hoffman v. Polycast Tech. Div. of Uniroyal Tech. Corp., 79 F.3d 331, 333 (2d Cir. 1996); Mego Corp., 633 F.2d at 1030.

In the current case, the district court did not conduct a reasonable cause analysis. It reasoned that because the Board failed to satisfy the just and proper prong, it was unnecessary to conduct a reasonable cause analysis. We disagree with the district court's analysis of the just and proper prong. We also find that there is reasonable cause in the record to believe that the Board would -- as in fact the ALJ did -- find that ICC violated the Act and that the district court committed reversible, clear error by not deferring sufficiently to the Regional Director in light of the record. Cf. Polycast, 79 F.3d at 334 (remanding grant of § 10(j) relief for finding of reasonable cause because record was too "weak" to support Regional Director's conclusion).

I. Reasonable Cause

The district court does not need to make a final determination whether the conduct in question constitutes an unfair labor practice; reasonable cause to support such a conclusion is sufficient. See Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Comm., Inc., 67 F.3d 1054, 1059 (2d Cir. 1995). In this Circuit, when considering § 10(j) petitions, we give considerable deference to the NLRB Regional Director. As we have noted, "[w]ith respect to issues of fact, the Regional Director should be given the benefit of the doubt... and on questions of law, the Board's view should be sustained unless the court is convinced that it is wrong." Kaynard v. Palby Lingerie, Inc., 625 F.2d 1047, 1051 (2d Cir. 1980) (internal quotation omitted). See also Major League Baseball, 67 F.3d at 1059 (holding that the court should deny relief only if it believes that the Board's legal or factual theories are "fatally flawed"); Mego Corp., 633 F.2d at 1031 (holding that the court should draw all factual inferences in favor of the Board and sustain them if they are "within the range of rationality").

The question whether there is reasonable cause to support a finding that ICC committed an unfair labor practice turns on the question whether there is reasonable cause to believe that ICC was in a legal successorship relation with Aramark. Legal successors are under...