Kennametal, Inc. v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, ETC., Civ. A. No. 16324.
| Decision Date | 22 April 1958 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 16324. |
| Citation | 161 F. Supp. 362 |
| Parties | KENNAMETAL, Inc., a Pennsylvania corporation, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, (UAW) AFL-CIO, a voluntary association, and Walter P. Reuther, Ray Ross, C. J. Hyde, and Grady Bishop, as members thereof and as representatives of all the members and locals thereof; District 50, United Mine Workers of America, a voluntary association, and A. D. Lewis and Jess M. Vicini, as members thereof and as representatives of all the members and locals thereof; and District 50, United Mine Workers of America, Local Union No. 13082, a voluntary association, and Richard Weppelman, Kenneth O'Hara, and Vaughn Shearer, as members thereof and as representatives of all the members thereof, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Nicholas Unkovic, Donald B. Heard, Leonard L. Scheinholtz, Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay, Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiff.
Morris Zimmerman, J. Alfred Wilner, Pittsburgh, Pa., Harold Cranefield, Detroit, Mich., Lowell Goerlich, Washington, D. C., for defendant UAW.
James E. McLaughlin, James P. McArdle, Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendants Dist. 50 and District 50, Local Union No. 13082.
The plaintiff, Kennametal, Inc., in December of 1956, entered into a contract with District 50 of the United Mine Workers on behalf of Local No. 13082 of the United Mine Workers, which contract was to expire on November 26, 1959. This contract provided for, among other things, a check-off of dues.
On or about March 29, 1957, United Automobile Workers petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election asking the employees of the plaintiff corporation whether they desired to be represented by the United Auto Workers. The election was held and the majority voted in favor of the Auto Workers. Thereafter, a representative of the Auto Workers allegedly advised the plaintiff that it should discontinue deducting dues from the employees.
In the meantime the plaintiff corporation had taken action requesting that the National Labor Relations Board not certify the Auto Workers as a bargaining agent. Conflicting claims apparently were arising as to who should be entitled to the dues. The plaintiff also maintained that the Auto Workers and the employees were bound by the contract that it had negotiated with the Mine Workers. The plaintiff thereupon brought this lawsuit asking relief by way of an interpleader as to who should be entitled to the money that it had checked off; and in a second cause of action it seeks a declaratory judgment that would bind the United Auto Workers and the employees to the contract entered into between it and the United Mine Workers. Thereafter, the United Auto Workers filed motions to dismiss both causes of action.
The Court, having previously permitted the Kennametal corporation to pay $5,660 into the Registry of the Court, directed that each defendant file a claim to the money in dispute. District 50 filed a claim for the money, but Local Union No. 13082 filed no claim. The United Auto Workers said that it could not be in a position to claim the fund or question the validity of the contract because it had not been certified, and in its answer to the amended complaint it does not claim the money. In January, 1958, the United Auto Workers were certified as the bargaining agent. The plaintiff, thereafter, amended its complaint to reflect the change in circumstances, and the Court is now faced with the basic question raised by the United Auto Workers to dismiss the complaint.
At the present state of the record, there is only one claimant to the fund, the United Mine Workers, District 50, whose residence appears to be in Washington, D. C. The United Mine Workers Local 13082 did not file a claim to this money; therefore, we do not have a claimant who is a resident of this district. The plaintiff in its brief says it is essential that one or more of the claimants reside in the Western District of Pennsylvania, and urges that the residence of Local 13082, District 50, in Pennsylvania satisfies this requirement. This residence requirement is set out in 28 U.S.C.A. § 1397 as follows:
"Any civil action of interpleader or in the nature of interpleader under section 1335...
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