Iodice v. Calabrese

• Decision Date: 06 June 1972
• Docket Number: No. 67 Civ. 887.,67 Civ. 887.
• Citation: 345 F. Supp. 248
• Parties: Anthony IODICE et al., Plaintiffs, v. Peter CALABRESE, individually and as Secretary Treasurer of Teamsters and Chauffeurs Local No. 456, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

345 F. Supp. 248

Anthony IODICE et al., Plaintiffs, v. Peter CALABRESE, individually and as Secretary Treasurer of Teamsters and Chauffeurs Local No. 456, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Defendants.

No. 67 Civ. 887.

United States District Court, S. D. New York.

June 6, 1972.

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Greenspan, Aurnou & Davis, by Leon Greenspan, White Plains, N. Y., for plaintiffs.

John J. Sheehan, New York City, for defendants.

EDELSTEIN, Chief Judge.

OPINION

This case raises claims by individual truckers and trucking companies of having been prevented from freely conducting their businesses in the construction industry in Westchester County, New York, by the unlawful and wilful activities of a local union and one of its officers. This case was tried to the court without a jury, and the facts adduced in evidence, relating to a period of over twenty years, raise complex issues of law. The court has jurisdiction over this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1337 (1964), 29 U.S.C. §§ 185, 187 (1964), and pursuant to its pendent jurisdiction. Iodice v. Calabrese, 291 F.Supp. 592 (S. D.N.Y.1968).

Plaintiffs Anthony Iodice and Thomas Valentine have worked in the construction industry in Westchester County as truck drivers. Both have owned and operated their own equipment. Plaintiff Thornwood Excavators and Movers, Inc., (Thornwood) is a New York corporation which was engaged in trucking operations — primarily the moving of heavy construction equipment from one site to another — in the construction industry in Westchester County. Iodice's sister, Elissa Giuliano, owns Thornwood and Iodice himself worked for Thornwood as a manager and truckdriver. Plaintiff Pelham Transportation Company, Inc., (Pelham) is another New York corporation which was engaged in Westchester County in the business of moving heavy construction equipment. It is owned by plaintiff Bart Ruggiero. Plaintiff Judy Capece owned a restaurant located in Westchester County. The only evidence offered in connection with her claim was stricken from the record without objection at the end of plaintiffs' case, and her claims, therefore, are dismissed.

Defendant Peter Calabrese was the Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters and Chauffeurs Local No. 456, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Local 456).¹ This local has its office in Westchester County. Its membership includes truck drivers who work in the construction industry in that county.

Iodice and Valentine once were members of Local 456 as owner-drivers, that is, as men who owned and drove their own trucks. Iodice was a member in 1948 and 1949 and Valentine was a member from 1946 to 1949. In 1949 Local 456 members who were owner-drivers were called to a union meeting by John Acropolis, who then was president of the union. They were informed that they could not retain their status as union members but that they could sign contracts as truck owners with the union.² Of approximately 200 owner-drivers, some signed contracts with the union, but most, including Iodice and Valentine, did not. In consequence Iodice and Valentine were disassociated by the union.

In 1950 both Iodice and Valentine went to work as drivers for E. Rabinow & Company, a business located in Yonkers, New York. At this time Local 456 was engaged in a strike against this company. In the course of their employment, Iodice and Valentine drove through the union picket lines. During their employment they also witnessed an assault upon Albert Rabinow by Peter Calabrese. Calabrese subsequently was indicted for this offense along with two other union members, Harry Williams and Carl De Marco. Iodice and Valentine testified for the prosecution at the trial of these three men in October 1951. All three were convicted and Calabrese subsequently served approximately nine months in prison. At this time Calabrese was a business agent of Local 456. He was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the union in about 1961.

Valentine quit his employment with E. Rabinow & Company some time before the conclusion of Local 456's strike against that company. Since then Valentine has been engaged in the construction industry doing excavation work and hauling machinery as an owner and operator of his own equipment. Valentine has operated his business without a Local 456 contract or membership. As a consequence, he testified, he has suffered business interruptions over the years due to the refusal of union members to permit him to work on the same job with them. Also, generally, he has had to stay out of Westchester County when engaged in hauling because of his non-union status.

After leaving the employ of E. Rabinow & Company, Iodice also went into business for himself. He purchased a dump truck and used it to haul dirt, blocks, bricks and other material. Contractors on union jobs, however, let him go soon after he started work on the grounds that he was not union. After about three or four years Iodice bought a low-bed trailer and tractor and went into the business of moving heavy machinery. Iodice remained in this business under his own name until January of 1965. He sold his equipment then to Thornwood Excavators and Movers, Inc., a corporation formed at this time by Iodice's sister, Elissa Giuliano, as owner. Aside from these changes of form, the business remained the same with Iodice in charge acting both as manager and truck driver.

During the years following 1949 neither Iodice nor Thornwood operated with a Local 456 contract.³ On July 1, 1966, Thornwood, by Elissa Giuliano, signed a contract with Local 445, a different Teamsters affiliate having jurisdiction over various counties in New York outside of Westchester. Also, in 1968, Thornwood signed a contract with Local 465, Amalgamated Truck Owners, Drivers and Helpers Union. This was the union that Iodice helped to form. He became its treasurer and business agent. Though organized on paper, this union never developed into a viable organization. Efforts to make it such ceased after approximately four or five months.

Under whichever form of business Iodice operated, the fair preponderance of the credible evidence establishes that at various times he lost business because of pressure brought to bear upon his customers by Local 456 and Calabrese not to deal with him. At times this pressure took the form of warnings of possible labor trouble and job stoppages if Iodice's services were used. At other times the union levied fines in varying amounts in the form of assessments which had to be paid to designated charities by contractors who hired Iodice to move their machinery. More will be said later about the nature of these fines and the claimed authority to levy them; at the moment the court turns to some of the examples revealed by the evidence of disruptions of Iodice's business. Whether these disruptions were the result of unlawful activity also will be discussed later.

Beginning in 1957, Dominick Clemente, a contractor in the heavy construction business employed Iodice to move his equipment. In 1966 or 1967, while under contract with Local 456, Clemente was told by Calabrese not to use Iodice or else his jobs would be shut down. Clemente stopped using Iodice. Thereafter, in 1967, Clemente hired Iodice again after Iodice said that since he had a contract with the union in Rockland County he could move machinery from Rockland into Westchester. Calabrese learned about this. He told Clemente that Iodice did not have a contract in Westchester County. Clemente was fined $1000 payable to a missionary named Brother Flavian on the asserted ground that Clemente's use of Iodice constituted a violation of his contract with Local 456. After this fine was imposed Clemente stopped using Iodice.

Peter Celona, an excavating contractor, had used Iodice to move his machinery for about fifteen years. In May of 1968 Celona had a contract with Local 456. He testified he knew that he was not supposed to use Iodice. However, he hired Iodice anyway because he had to move some machinery and could not get another trailer. Calabrese fined Celona approximately $120 for using Iodice. Celona had to pay the fine to Brother Flavian.

Louis Di Falco, an excavating contractor, first started doing business with Iodice in 1962 or 1963. Before starting a new job in 1968 he was told by Calabrese's delegate to go to see Calabrese because the job was supposed to be strictly union. At the union hall Calabrese told Di Falco that unless he signed a contract with the union he would not be able to start work or have any machine moved onto the job. At the time Di Falco had a contract with another union, the operating engineers, but he signed the Local 456 contract as well so that he could start his job. At this meeting Calabrese told Di Falco that he could not use Iodice to move his machinery, he only could use Local 456 men. Di Falco stopped using Iodice.

Joseph Luciano, Jr., does business as Tuckahoe Construction Company, Inc. He employed Iodice to move his equipment. In 1966, while Iodice was making a move for him, he received a telephone call from Calabrese who said that if Iodice moved the machine it would cost Luciano a fine of $1000. Luciano thereupon got in touch with Iodice in the middle of the move and ordered Iodice to return the machine to Luciano's yard. Luciano never used Iodice again. At the time of this incident Luciano had a contract with Local 456.

Kenneth Chiarito is engaged in the house wrecking business under the name Kenbar Demolition Contractors. He first used Iodice to move his equipment in 1966 but has not used him since 1968 because Chiarito purchased his own trailer at that time. In 1966 or 1967 he used Iodice to move his equipment to a demolition job he was engaged in at a site across the street from the Local 456 union hall. Chiarito did not have a contract with Local 456 at that time although he had been hired by a contractor who did have such a contract....