International Printing Pressmen and Ass'Ts Un. v. Smith

Decision Date17 July 1946
Docket NumberNo. A-778.,A-778.
PartiesINTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA v. SMITH.
CourtTexas Supreme Court

White & Forsythe, and Earl A. Forsythe, all of Dallas, for petitioner.

Henry Klepak, of Dallas, for respondent.

ALEXANDER, Chief Justice.

L. R. Smith brought this suit against the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America for damages for wrongful expulsion from the union. The verdict of the jury was in favor of the plaintiff for actual damages, but against him for exemplary damages. However, the trial court, on motion, entered judgment non obstante veredicto for defendant. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded the cause with instructions to enter judgment for the plaintiff on the verdict, and to proceed thereafter as though the judgment non obstante veredicto had not been entered. 190 S.W.2d 769.

The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America is a voluntary labor union. It operates largely through subordinate unions chartered by it. The Fort Worth Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union No. 47 is one of its chartered subordinate unions. The Plaintiff, Smith, was a member of this subordinate union in good standing, and had been a member thereof for more than ten years. The international union's constitution provided that charges against any member of a subordinate union must be presented to the subordinate union in writing, giving the name of the alleged offender, the time, place, and specifications of the offense, and the names of the witnesses; and upon presentation thereof the subordinate union was required to commit the same to trial before a trial committee of five members. The trial committee was required to set a date for the hearing and give the accused five days' notice thereof, and then proceed to hear the case and report its findings in writing to the subordinate union at its next regular meeting. Upon receipt of the report of the trial committee, the subordinate union was required to vote on the question of sustaining the report of the committee as to the guilt or innocence of the accused; and if the accused was found guilty, it was required to vote on the punishment to be imposed. The constitution set out in detail how the vote should be taken.

On or about June 26, 1940, a member of the executive board of the subordinate union verbally notified Smith that he had been charged with slandering the union and that a hearing would be had the following evening at 5:30. Apparently no written charges had been filed, and according to the findings of the jury he was given only one day's notice prior to the hearing. He failed to appear at the trial, and the trial proceeded in his absence. Thereafter the trial committee made its report to the subordinate union as follows:

"June 27th, 1940. To: Members of Local No. 47: We, the members of the Executive Board, have found Brother L. R. Smith guilty of an unbecoming Union Member. The charges are as follows: On June 20th, 1940, Brother L. R. Smith goes to Business Manager of the Fort Worth Press and in a slanderous way, makes charges to said Business Manager that is injurious to the Union. The Executive Board has found this to be true, and said Executive Board recommends that this Local No. 47 suspend Brother L. R. Smith for a period of thirty (30) days, beginning June 25th, 1940, and assesses a fine of $25.00 with this condition; that if Brother L. R. Smith should take a traveler out of Local No. 47, that the $25.00 shall be suspended until L. R. Smith's traveler is again deposited in Local No. 47. Then said fine shall be collected at the time Brother L. R. Smith's traveler is deposited." (Signed Executive Board.)

Both parties concede that the subordinate union never took a vote on the recommendations of the trial committee or executive board, but the subordinate union thereafter treated Smith as a suspended and fined member. The subordinate union had a contract with the Fort Worth Press and furnished the labor for its printing, and Smith was one of the employees on that job. After the trial committee had filed its report, the foreman of the Fort Worth Press (a member of the union), where Smith worked, notified him that he had been fined and suspended, and that he could no longer hold his job. The manager of the Fort Worth Press also notified him that because of the contract with the union and his suspension from the union, he could no longer work on the job.

From time to time Smith went before the local union and tried to get the matter disposed of, but was never able to get any definite action thereon. This situation continued until August 15, 1940, when Smith tendered to the subordinate union all dues owed by him at that time and requested the issuance of a membership or union card. The secretary of the subordinate union refused to issue the card unless Smith would pay the $25 fine and 25¢ per day during the period of his suspension, both of which he refused to pay. The result was that the union deprived him of membership therein, including all of the rights, benefits, and privileges incident thereto. Continuously since then it has denied him the right to work on a union job. Although he is an experienced pressman, he has been unable to secure a job as such. He has been able to secure only nonunion jobs here and there, and at the time of the trial was serving as a night watchman for a mercantile establishment at small pay. Other pertinent facts will be stated in connection with the various points discussed in the opinion.

The constitution of the international union provided for an appeal by the aggrieved member successively to the president, the board of directors, and thence to the next convention of the international union. It forbade resort to the courts until the right of appeal had been exhausted. It is contended that Smith had no right to maintain this action for damages until he had first exhausted his remedy of appeal within the union.

We think it clear that Smith's expulsion from the union was illegal and void, and that the act of the secretary of the local union was wholly unauthorized. The charges against Smith were not in writing as required by the constitution. He was given only one day's notice prior to the trial, whereas the constitution required five days' notice, and the trial proceeded in his absence without the necessary notice. The constitution required the union to vote on the question of sustaining the report of the trial committee as to the guilt of the accused and the punishment to be imposed. No such action was ever taken by the union. There was therefore such a breach of the fundamental guarantees established by the union for the protection of the rights of the individual member as to render the purported expulsion illegal. United Brotherhood of Carpenters, etc., v. Carpenters Local No. 14, etc., Tex.Civ.App., 178 S.W.2d 558; McCantz v. Brotherhood of Painters, etc., Tex.Civ.App., 13 S.W.2d 902; Cotton Jammers', etc., Ass'n v. Taylor, 23 Tex. Civ.App. 367, 56 S.W. 553; People ex rel. Deverell v. Musical Mutual Protective Union, 118 N.Y. 101, 23 N.E. 129; Nissen v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, etc., 229 Iowa 1028, 295 N.W. 858, 141 A.L.R. 598; Grand Int. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Green, 210 Ala. 496, 98 So. 569; Johnson v. International of United Brotherhood of Carpenters, etc., 52 Nev. 400, 288 P. 170. See also "The Elements of a Fair Trial in Disciplinary Proceedings by Labor Unions," 30 Col.L. Rev. 847, and "The Judicial Process in Labor Unions," 10 Brooklyn L.Rev. 145. It is apparent that no lawful fine was ever assessed against Smith, and therefore the secretary had no authority to deny him the right to pay his regular dues and receive his union card. Neither did the union have a right to deny him the privileges of the union.

It has been definitely settled by the decisions of this State that an action of this kind for damages for wrongfully depriving a plaintiff of his rights as a member of a union, where the attempted expulsion was void or illegal, may be maintained without first exhausting the remedy of appeal within the union. St. Louis Southwestern R. Co. of Texas v. Thompson, 102 Tex. 89, 113 S.W. 144, 19 Ann. Cas. 1250; Benson v. Screwmen's Benefit Ass'n, 2 Tex.Civ.App. 66, 21 S.W. 562; McCantz v. Brotherhood of Painters, etc., Tex.Civ.App., 13 S.W.2d 902. See also 31 Amer.Jur. 865, sec. 71; Independent Order of Sons and Daughters, etc., v. Wilkes, 98 Miss. 179, 53 So. 493, 52 L.R.A., N.S., 817; Local Union No. 65 of Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers, etc., v. Nalty, 6 Cir., 7 F.2d 100; Shapiro v. Gehlman, 244 App.Div. 238, 278 N.Y.S. 785, modified and affirmed Shapiro v. Brennan, 269 N.Y. 517, 199 N.E. 515. This assignment is therefore overruled.

The major contention is that the international union is not responsible for the acts of the subordinate union in expelling Smith, nor for that of the secretary of the subordinate union in refusing to recognize Smith as a member and to issue him a membership card.

As previously stated, the international union operates largely through subordinate unions chartered by it. The Fort Worth local union...

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