Lab. Int'l Union v. Caruso
| Decision Date | 17 December 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-1276,99-1276 |
| Citation | 197 F.3d 1195 |
| Parties | (7th Cir. 1999) LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA and ROBERT BLOCH, in his official capacity as Trustee of the Construction & General Laborers' District Council of Chicago and Vicinity, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. BRUNO CARUSO, JOHN MATASSA, JR., LEO CARUSO, and CONSTRUCTION & GENERAL LABORERS' DISTRICT COUNCIL OF CHICAGO AND VICINITY, an affiliated entity of the Laborers' International Union of North America, Defendants-Appellants |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 98 C 825--James B. Moran, Judge.
Before BAUER, COFFEY and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.
Since 1994, when they were the subject of a Department of Justice RICO investigation, the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) has attempted to rid itself of organized crime and stave off direct government control. These efforts culminated in LIUNA's adoption of a reform program in 1995 designed to root out mafia influence and corruption. In 1997, these reforms allowed LIUNA to bring a trusteeship complaint against the Chicago District Council (CDC) on charges of organized crime corruption, financial wrongdoing, and undemocratic procedures.1 As a result of these charges, an Independent Hearing Officer (IHO) concluded that a trusteeship was necessary because of the overwhelming evidence that organized crime had infiltrated the top ranks of the existing CDC leadership and that the CDC had been the continuous victim of undemocratic process for more than 25 years. Consequently, Robert Bloch was appointed as the CDC trustee with full power to conduct all of the CDC's affairs.
Because the CDC refused to allow Bloch to perform his duties without a federal court order, LIUNA and Bloch filed this action in federal court. The defendants-appellants (hereinafter "CDC") filed counterclaims arguing that LIUNA's trusteeship action against CDC was really "discipline" against them personally. On January 6, 1999, the trial judge entered summary judgment in favor of LIUNA, stating that the IHO
We affirm.
In 1994, the Department of Justice announced that it was preparing to file an action against LIUNA under RICO with the intent of taking control of LIUNA and ridding it of organized crime. As part of LIUNA's attempts to avoid direct government control, the LIUNA General Executive Board (GEB) amended the LIUNA Constitution to add a new Ethics and Disciplinary Procedure ("EDP") and an Ethical Practice Code ("EPC"). LIUNA hoped that it could persuade the DOJ that it had the ability to expel organized crime from its ranks without the need for direct government control.
After LIUNA enacted the EDP and EPC, the DOJ entered into an agreement providing for strict government oversight of, and assistance to, LIUNA's internal reform process, but stopped short of assuming direct responsibility or control over LIUNA. Immediately after the agreement with the DOJ, LIUNA officials and LIUNA-affiliated entities from Chicago and elsewhere tried to block the reforms and the agreement with the DOJ through the filing of a number of suits in federal court, all alleging that the EDP, the EPC, and the agreement with the DOJ, violated the federal labor statutes.2
After this court upheld the EDP, EPC, and LIUNA's agreement with the DOJ, see Serpico, 97 F.3d at 996-99, the GEB Attorney initiated trusteeship proceedings against the CDC under the EDP, the LIUNA Constitution, and Title III of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). The trusteeship complaint alleged that "for at least the past twenty-five years, the leadership of the Chicago District Council has had strong, discernible ties to the leadership of organized crime in Chicago" and that a trusteeship was necessary to remedy the problem.
On February 7, 1998, after 19 days of hearings involving 45 witnesses and 200 exhibits, the IHO determined that a trusteeship of the CDC was necessary to expel the influence of organized crime, restore democratic process and otherwise carry out the legitimate business of the Union. The CDC and its former officers sought to appeal the IHO's decision to the Union's Appellate Officer (AO), an attorney appointed under the EDP to hear appeals of cases involving member discipline. The AO issued two opinions in which he ruled that the IHO's opinion was not appealable because it concerned a trusteeship only and imposed no "discipline" on any of the defendants within the meaning of the LMRDA.
Still, LIUNA and Bloch could not assume control of the CDC because the ...
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