Hudson v. Am. Fed'n of Gov't Emps.

• Decision Date: 02 April 2018
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 17–1867 (JEB)
• Citation: 308 F.Supp.3d 121
• Parties: Eugene HUDSON, Jr., Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

308 F.Supp.3d 121

Eugene HUDSON, Jr., Plaintiff,

v.AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 17–1867 (JEB)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed April 2, 2018

Jonathan G. Axelrod, Justin P. Keating, Beins, Axelrod, P.C., Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Gony Frieder Goldberg, American Federation of Government Employees, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JAMES E. BOASBERG, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Eugene Hudson was elected in August 2015 to serve a second three-year term as National Secretary–Treasurer for Defendant American Federation of Government Employees. The Union's governing body, the National Executive Council, has now twice voted to remove him from office, including once after this Court reinstated him. In his First Amended Complaint, Hudson challenges both removals, alleging that they violated his member rights under the Labor–Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, the Labor Management Relations Act, and D.C. contract law. Now before the Court is his third Motion for Preliminary Injunction, again requesting reinstatement to his NST position. Because the Court finds that he is unlikely to succeed on the merits of any of his claims, it will deny the Motion.

I. Background

Although the parties agree that only the most recent discharge is relevant to this preliminary-injunction Motion, the Court finds it necessary, in relating the history of the case, to begin at the beginning.

A. Factual History

AFGE is a national labor organization representing over 1000 federal and D.C. government employees. See ECF No. 36 (Amended Complaint), ¶ 2. The National Executive Council (NEC) consists of a National President, National Secretary–Treasurer, National Vice–President for Women and Fair Practices, and National Vice–Presidents for each of the twelve AFGE districts. Id., ¶ 3. Hudson was elected to two consecutive three-year terms as National Secretary–Treasurer beginning in 2012. Id., ¶ 7. In August 2018, Convention delegates will elect a National President, a National Secretary–Treasurer, and the National Vice–President for Women and Fair Practices. Id., ¶ 8.

On August 19, 2016, Hudson sent his assistant a letter declaring his intent to run for national office at the 2018 Convention, but not specifying a particular position. Id., Exh. 6 (Committee of Investigation File) at 10. His assistant sent the declaration of candidacy to AFGE's General Counsel on August 29. Id. at 9. Three communications from Hudson in 2016 subsequent to his declaration are pertinent to the case.

First, Plaintiff sent a letter announcing his candidacy to AFGE local officers on August 26. Id. at 7–8, 13. In addition to announcing that he "will be a candidate for National Office at the 2018 Convention," the letter sought to "outline the structural problems" Hudson had faced as NST. Id. at 7. These challenges mostly concerned Plaintiff's view that the NST office was not strong enough, leaving the Union open to financial abuses by officers. Second, on October 3, Hudson sent a postcard to the same group of people, "provid[ing] some examples of expenses that have been approved," but that he did not believe served a valid Union purpose. Id. at 11. In the postcard, he promised to "set out a plan to correct these abuses" in "subsequent letters." Id. Finally, one week after the American presidential election, Hudson directed an AFGE staff member to send an email to a group of AFGE members. See Amend. Compl., ¶ 29. Sent from the staff member's email on behalf of Hudson, the three-and-a-half-page email was entitled, "AFGE, the Trump administration, and the attack on the way" and included as a by-line, "From the Desk of National Secretary–Treasurer Eugene Hudson, Jr." Id., ¶ 31. Hudson warned that the new administration would have a "bull's eye planted on the backs of federal workers and the unions that represent them." Id. He questioned whether AFGE was "ready for this assault" and listed four items for consideration: 1) "Recognize that we must fight; we have no choice"; 2) "Rethink the way that we operate as an organization"; 3) "We need to build our support within the larger community"; and 4) "[T]his is a time for AFGE to join with other unions operating in the federal sector in coordinated responses to the attacks." Id. No one reviewed the email prior to Hudson's distribution.

This last communication immediately sparked concern within AFGE leadership. One NVP found it "outrageous" that "an Afge [sic ] policy statement [would] be sent out to the membership without knowledge and consent of the NEC," to which Hudson responded that the email was his "personal opinion and [not] an official statement from AFGE." COI File at 30. AFGE's General Counsel and its President also expressed concern with the email. Id.

B. Procedural History

Nearly one month later, on December 21, 2016, National Vice–President Keith Hill filed an internal charge against Plaintiff pursuant to the AFGE National Constitution. Id. at 5–6. Hill asserted that Hudson had violated their Constitution by: (1) sending the August 2016 letter; (2) sending the October 2016 postcard; (3) maintaining a public website containing Union information; (4) directing his subordinate to send the November 15 email; and (5) referring to an AFGE staff member as the "Nigerian Nightmare" at a training. Id.

1. Plaintiff's First Discharge

Pursuant to Article 13 of the AFGE Constitution, a Committee of Investigation was appointed on February 7, 2017, to consider the charges. That Committee found that the letter, postcard, and website were forms of protected speech and that the verbal incident was not properly before it. See Amend. Compl., Exh 11 (COI Findings) at 1. The COI, conversely, did recommend that the NEC proceed on the charge related to the post-election email, "find[ing] probable cause exists for the specific charge of malfeasance of office." Id. The Committee then sent its report to the NEC, which met on August 8, 2017. Before both the COI and the NEC, Hudson maintained his innocence of any wrongdoing and asked that several NEC members be recused for potential bias because, as NST, he had challenged their reimbursements and use of AFGE financial resources. Id., Exh. 14.

With no member recusing, the NEC adopted the Committee's report, deliberated, and found Hudson guilty of the referred charge. Id., Exh. 15. It then voted to remove him from his position as NST but did not restrict his Union membership rights. Id., ¶ 55. Hudson has appealed the ruling to the National Convention, which will take place in August 2018. Id., ¶ 59.

2. Initial Litigation

Understandably unwilling to wait until the Convention, Plaintiff then filed this suit on September 12, 2017, alleging four ways in which his discharge violated the Labor–Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). First, he asserted a claim under Section 101(a)(5) of the Act, which protects union members from improper disciplinary actions, for the denial of a full and fair hearing. Plaintiff next claimed that AFGE had improperly retaliated against him for exercising his free-speech rights guaranteed in Section 101(a)(2). Count III also alleged unlawful retaliation, but was premised on Section 609, which prohibits unions from disciplining members for exercising their LMRDA rights. Hudson's last count invoked Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), which allows a union to sue or be sued for certain breaches of contract. Hudson therein alleged that Defendant had violated several provisions of the AFGE Constitution and the Committee of Investigation Manual.

Five days after bringing suit, Plaintiff filed his first Motion for Preliminary Injunction, asking the Court to order Defendant to reinstate him as NST, process the charges anew, conduct a new hearing without the allegedly biased NEC members, and pay monetary damages. See ECF No. 4. After a hearing, the Court granted Hudson's Motion (apart from damages) in a written Opinion. See Hudson v. Am. Fed. of Gov't Empls., 292 F.Supp.3d 145, 2017 WL 5449806 (D.D.C. Nov. 9, 2017) ( AFGE I ). The Opinion began and ended with Hudson's first count, which alleged that he had been denied a full and fair hearing. Based on the "historical animosity" between Hudson and a member of the COI, the Court concluded that "a reasonable jury would likely find that [the COI member] was biased against Hudson, precluding him from receiving a full and fair hearing." Id. at 155, 2017 WL 5449806, at *7. The Court also found that Hudson had satisfied the other three preliminary-injunction factors—i.e. , irreparable harm to him, balance of the equities, and the public interest. Having determined that Plaintiff was entitled to a preliminary injunction based on Count I alone, the Court ordered AFGE to reinstate him without addressing the other three causes of action. Id. at 152–53, 2017 WL 5449806, at *5.

Plaintiff's victory, however, was short lived. In a subsequent Motion to Dismiss, AFGE argued that § 101(a)(5), upon which the Court had solely relied in granting the injunction, did not apply to a removed officer (like Hudson) so long as his Union membership rights remained intact. See ECF No. 21 at 16–17. In his opposition, Plaintiff agreed and withdrew that count as well as his Section 609 claim. See ECF No. 22 at 18. That concession led the Court to vacate the injunction and accompanying Opinion. See Minute Order of Jan. 12, 2018. As the injunction was no longer in force, the Union again removed Hudson from the NST position. See Amend. Compl., ¶ 73. Plaintiff then filed a second Motion for Preliminary Injunction based on the remaining two counts, see ECF No. 30, but the Court stayed briefing on that matter because of ongoing events between the parties outside of litigation. See Minute Order of February 7, 2018. The Court also ruled on Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, entering judgment in its favor on the two counts Hudson had withdrawn (Counts I and III) and...