International Broth. of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers, AFL-CIO v. Delaney, AFL-CIO
| Decision Date | 06 June 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 39454,AFL-CI,CL,AFL-CIO,A,39454 |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
| Parties | INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF PULP, SULPHITE AND PAPER MILL WORKERS,, and Oren Parker, Trustee; Local 580, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers,, CLC, Appellants, v. Fred DELANEY and Jane Doe Delaney, his wife, et al., Respondents. |
Bassett, Donaldson & Hafer, Hugh Hafer, Seattle, for appellants.
Dysart, Moore & Tiller, Lloyd B. Dysart, Laurel L. Tiller, Centralia, Willner, Bennett & Leonard, Don S. Willner, Portland, Or., for respondents.
In this suit by an international union to obtain the funds and other property of one of its local affiliates, the following findings of fact were entered:
'The object of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers shall be to secure and maintain a living wage and to lessen the hours of labor for its members; to assist each other in obtaining employment in preference to persons not connected with this Union; to use every honorable method to elevate its membership in the economic, moral and social scale of life; to help safe-guard the principles of democracy; to work for the establishment of political and social equality regardless of race, color or creed, and to promote friendly relations between labor and industry and labor and government.'
II
Defendants, Delaney, Claypool, Johnson, Emerson, Hill, Skare, Beebe and Dingman, when this suit was filed were pulp and paper mill workers employed by the Longview Fibre Company in Longview, Washington and were officers of Local 153.
III
Defendant International 153 (hereinafter called Local 153) was affiliated with the International from 1934 until May 26, 1964, when at a membership meeting by unanimous vote the members voted to disaffiliate from International, and affiliated with the new Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (hereinafter called Western) which Local 153 had helped to form and to retain the local's assets in its new affiliation.
IV
The assets of Local 153 on that date were $34,217.32 and a Local Union Hall and furnishing(s) valued at $70,780.07.
V
Local 153 paid its per capita tax to International and in all respects conformed to the Constitution of International and fulfilled all the obligations placed upon it by said Constitution up through the date of disaffiliation.
VI
All of the assets of Local 153 on the day of disaffiliation were contributed by the members of Local 153 from membership dues which were fixed by the local membership, except that in 1957 International donated $1,500.00 and a sign for the union hall of the value of $400.00.
VII
The funds for building the Union Hall came from special assessments voluntarily imposed by the membership of Local 153 upon themselves and were at all times segregated from the assets of the Local and this segregation of the building funds was approved by International.
VIII
Local 153 was not suspended nor did it disband.
IX
On October 1, 1964, Western won a National Labor Relations Board election and became the collective bargaining agent for 21,000 mill workers in the West Coast including the members of Local 153.
There follow findings that one of the officers of the International was probably guilty of corrupt practices, that the International made only a cursory investigation when charges were made against him and thereafter exonerated him; that attempts of the defendant locals to effect reforms in the union procedures were frustrated, and that the International refused to allow the local to participate in bargaining procedures, apparently because of these attempts. The remaining findings are:
XXIII
On May 26, 1964, International demanded that Local 153 turn its books and records over to the CPA firm that had been hired to assist the counsel for International. When Local 153 refused to do so, International ordered Local 153 placed in trusteeship on July 9, 1964 and the trusteeship has continued to this date.
XXIV
Local 580 which consists of the pulp division employees of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in Longview, Washington, disaffiliated from International and affiliated with Western on September 26, 1964. The books and records of Local 580 are in the possession of the local in its new affiliation and are being used by the local to carry on its collective bargaining function.
Upon these findings, the trial court concluded that the purpose of the contract between the locals and the International had been frustrated, that the International was guilty of a breach of its fiduciary duty to the locals, and that it came into court with unclean hands. The International's claim that it had a right to the funds and property of the local was denied and its action was dismissed.
After this case was appealed, the National Labor Relations Board conducted an election among the workers in the pulp and paper industry on the West coast, as a result of which the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (hereinafter referred to as Western) retained its status as bargaining agent by a substantial majority vote.
The first contention of the International is that a judgment of the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Multnomah, in cases Nos. 302--117 and 302--118 entitled Phillips and Burnell v. Perrin, determined that the International is entitled to exercise its rights under the forfeiture clause and is res judicata. That suit was brought by the International against Western and the Uniform Labor Agreement Committee (hereinafter referred to as ULA) to recover $160,000 which it was alleged the unions had paid to the ULA to finance the campaign to supplant the International as exclusive bargaining agent on the West coast, through a National Labor Relations Board election. Actually, we believe the doctrine which the International has in mind is that of collateral estoppel, since it is not the entire cause which they claim is res judicata. See Bordeaux v. Ingersoll Rand Co., 71 Wash.Dec.2d 383, 429 P.2d 207 (1967). If it were, we assume the appellants would have sued on the judgment, rather than bring an independet action.
The International successfully resisted a motion to join the local union as a defendant in that action, on the ground that it was not a proper or necessary party. It is not suggested that the other defendants as individuals were represented in that action. The funds which were the subject of that litigation are not the funds which the International is seeking to recover in this action, and the theory of recovery is different. In addition, the International seeks title to a building which was not involved in that litigation. Nevertheless, the International argues that the judgment of the Multnomah County court, in its favor, is res judicata because the same defenses were raised and the evidence was largely the same.
The doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel do not apply where the issues and parties are not the same. We need not decide whether the Oregon judgment would estop the defendants on any issue in this action had they been represented in that action. Suffice it to say that the International cannot be heard to claim that the defendants were represented in that action, when the International itself objected to the local's being made a party to that action and successfully excluded it.
The purpose of collateral estoppel by judgment is to preclude parties or their privies from relitigating an issue that has been finally determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, after the party against whom estoppel is claimed has had an opportunity to fairly and fully present his case. Henderson v. Bardahl Int'l Corp., 72 Wash.Dec.2d 106, 431 P.2d 961 (1967). Since the defendants were not parties to the Oregon action, the doctrine does not preclude them from contending that the forfeiture clause should not be enforced. 1
The only findings to which error is assigned are findings XI, XII and XIII (not quoted in this opinion), and these are not set forth in the appellant's brief as required by Rule on Appeal 43. Furthermore, the argument in support of the assignments is not so much that there was no evidence to support the findings (insofar as they were findings and not conclusions), as it is that the conduct described in them did not justify a conclusion that the International was so corrupt as to vitiate its right to impose the obligations of its constitution on the local.
Since we have reached the conclusion that the constitution of the International does not provide for a forfeiture of the funds of a local under the circumstances of this case, we need not decide whether the International is correct in its assertion that its conduct was not such as to vitiate the contract and will assume that it is correct in this assertion.
The International relies upon the case of Bowman v. Moe, 66 Wash.2d 629, 404 P.2d 437 (1965), holding that the contractual provisions between a local union and an international union are not void as against public policy where they provide for the reversion of the local union's treasury funds to the international...
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