Local 333B, United Marine Div. of Intern. Longshoremen's Ass'n (A.F.L.) v. Com. ex rel. Virginia Ferry Corp.

Decision Date16 June 1952
Docket NumberNo. 3966,3966
Citation193 Va. 773,71 S.E.2d 159
Parties, 30 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2411, 21 Lab.Cas. P 67,023 LOCAL 333B, UNITED MARINE DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION (A.F.L.), ET AL. v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, AT THE RELATION OF VIRGINIA FERRY CORPORATION. Record
CourtVirginia Supreme Court

Sidney H. Kelsey, for the plaintiffs in error.

J. Lindsay Almond, Jr., Attorney General and Barron F. Black, Special Assistant to Attorney General, for the defendant in error.

JUDGE: HUDGINS

HUDGINS, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The Virginia Ferry Corporation, created and organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and hereinafter referred to as the 'Corporation,' operates a fleet of ferry steamers, used in transporting passengers and motor vehicles between Little Creek, Princess Anne county, and Kiptopeke Beach, Northampton county, across the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. In addition to serving the citizens of Virginia as the sole means of transportation of motor vehicles and passengers between these two points, the ferry constitutes an integral part of the Highway System of Virginia and the United States, being a link in U.S. Route 13. Since January 1, 1951, it has transported an average of 1698 vehicles and 4506 passengers daily.

Local 333B, United Marine Division of International Longshoremen's Association (A.F.L.), hereinafter referred to as the 'Union,' is the collective bargaining agent of the employees of the Corporation. H. L. Everton is president and William L. Owens is secretary of this Union.

On April 26, 1951, for and on behalf of the Union, H. L. Everton notified the Corporation that the Union represented more than three-fourths of all employees on all vessels operated by the Corporation and requested a conference with the employers to be held on May 3, 1951, to discuss matters pertaining to compensation and conditions of employment of the members of the Union. On the next day, April 27th, the Union, without notice to the Corporation, called a strike of the employees because two of the employees had been discharged. The Corporation re-employed the two men and the strike ended within three hours from its inception.

On May 11, 1951, representatives of the Corporation and the Union met for the purpose of discussing their differences. The Union notified the Corporation that it did not intend to comply with the provisions of the Virginia Public Utilities Labor Act. On May 17, 1951, the Corporation filed its verified bill (a copy of which had been left with the attorney for the Union the evening before) on the equity side of the Court of Law and Chancery of the city of Norfolk, praying that the Union, its officers, agents etc. be enjoined from calling a strike until it had complied with the provisions of Section 40-78 of the Code. At the hearing, the Union and its officers were represented by counsel, who objected to the injunction, on the ground that the Virginia Ferry Corporation was not a public utility within the meaning of the statute (secs. 40-75 to 40-95). The chancellor overruled the objection and entered an injunction order, in which it is stated:

'It is accordingly ADJUDGED, ORDERED and DECREED that Local 333B, United Marine Division of the International Longshoremen's Association (A.F.L.), and H. L. Everton, its President, and the other officers, members and sympathizers of, and persons acting for such association whose names are unknown, be, and they are hereby directed to refrain from engaging in a strike or work stoppage in connection with the operation of the Virginia Ferry Corporation until they comply with all of the provisions of the Virginia Public Utilities Labor Act allowing the Governor and other representatives of the Commonwealth, the opportunities provided by said Act to investigate, mediate and offer to arbitrate the differences between employers and employees, and to take any other actions provided for in said Act, to the end that the rights of the citizens of the State of Virginia may not be impaired. And said injunction and order shall continue until proof is shown by the said Defendants, either of compliance with the said Virginia Public Utilities Labor Act, or of their intention so to comply therewith.'

On motion of the Union, on May 31, 1951, the cause was removed from the Court of Law and Chancery of the city of Norfolk to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The District Court, on June 25, 1951, remanded the cause to the Court of Law and Chancery of the city of Norfolk.

On June 15, 1951, while the cause was still pending in the United States District Court, the attorney for the Union wrote the Governor of Virginia a letter, a copy of which was mailed to the Corporation. The first paragraph of this letter reads:

'Pursuant to Title 40, Sec. 78 of the Code of Virginia (1950) and in further pursuance of the injunctive order of the Court of Law and Chancery of the City of Norfolk, Virginia, the undersigned union as representative of both the licensed and unlicensed employees of the Virginia Ferry Corporation, three conferences of which you have been notified having been held with the employer in order to negotiate a change in wages and working conditions and said conferences having been fruitless, and further feeling that any arbitration between the parties would also be fruitless, and all negotiations between the parties having been discontinued, this is to notify you that a strike or work stoppage has been called for both licensed and unlicensed personnel of the Virginia Ferry Corporation, said strike or work stoppage being set for 12:00 noon, Friday, July 27, 1951, at which time the employees of all of the vessels of the Virginia Ferry Corporation will cease work as soon after said hour as said vessels are safely docked at the company's docks.'

On receipt of the letter, the Governor, pursuant to the mandate of the statute (sec. 40-78), requested both employers and employees to arbitrate. The Union declined. It, without notice to the Corporation, or to the Governor, on June 22, 1951, at noon, called a strike of the employees. On June 25, 1951, while the strike was in force and effect, the Corporation filed a petition in the pending chancery suit, alleging that the Union, H. L. Everton, its president, and William L. Owens, its secretary, had violated the injunction order of May 17th, and praying that a rule be issued against the named defendants to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt of court. The show cause order was issued and was made returnable on Thursday, June 28, 1951, at 10:00 a.m.

On June 27, the contempt proceedings were transferred from the equity to the law side of the court, and the style of the case changed to 'Commonwealth at relation of the Virginia Ferry Corporation and the Commonwealth of Virginia v. Local 333B United Marine Division of International Longshoremen's Association, H. L. Everton, and William L. Owens.'

Defendants filed an answer in which they denied they were guilty of contempt, and alleged that the injunction order of May 17, 1951, was null and void, on the ground that the statutes upon which it was based were unconstitutional. The answer contained a cross-claim alleging that defendants had been damaged in the sum of $50,000, and praying that they be given judgment therefor against the Corporation.

On June 26, 1951, two days before the trial of the contempt proceedings, the Governor, in the name of the Commonwealth, acting under the provisions of Sections 33-202 to 33-208 of the Code, took possession of the property of the Virginia Ferry Corporation and operated the ferry system until October 1, 1951, when, on settlement of the differences between the parties, it was returned to the Corporation. When this fact was brought to the attention of the chancellor in the equity suit, the injunction was dissolved and the suit dismissed.

On June 28, 1951, the trial court, in the contempt proceedings, on consideration of the exhibits and the testimony of nine witnesses, seven introduced by the Commonwealth and two by the defendants, found each of the defendants guilty of criminal contempt, and fixed their punishment as follows: a fine of $7,500 was assessed against Local 333B; a fine of $1,000, and ten days confinement in the city jail, were imposed upon H. L. Everton; a fine of $750, and five days confinement in the city jail, were imposed upon William L. Owens. All fines were made payable to the Commonwealth. To review this judgment the three defendants obtained this writ of error.

Defendants' first contention is that the trial court committed reversible error in transferring the contempt proceedings from the equity to the law side of the court.

Proceedings for contempt of court are of two classes, -- those prosecuted to preserve the power and vindicate the dignity of the court and those to preserve and enforce the rights of private parties. The former are criminal and punitive in their nature; the latter are civil, remedial and coercive in their nature, and the parties chiefly interested in their conduct and prosecution are those individuals for the enforcement of whose private rights and remedies the original suit was instituted. Roanoke Water Works Co. v. Roanoke Glass Co., 151 Va. 229, 144 S.E. 460; Deeds v. Gilmer, 162 Va. 157, 261, 174 S.E. 37; Drake v. National Bank of Commerce, 168 Va. 230, 190 S.E. 302, 109 A.L.R. 1517; Gloth v. Gloth, 158 Va. 98, 163 S.E. 351; Bessette v. Conkey Co., 194 U.S. 324, 24 S.Ct. 665, 48 L.ed. 997; 4 Michie's Jur., Contempt, sec. 3, p. 242; 12 Am. Jur., Contempt, sec. 6, p. 392.

There is no comprehensive test by which contempts may be classified as either civil or criminal. It was stated by Mr. Justice Lamar, in Gompers v. Bucks Stove, etc., Co., 221 U.S. 418, 441, 31 S.Ct. 492, 55 L.ed. 797, 34 L.R.A. (N.S.) 874, that 'Contempts are neither wholly civil nor altogether criminal. And 'it...

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  • Estate of Hackler v. Hackler
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    ...The degree of punishment for contempt is within the sound discretion of the trial court. Local 333B, United Marine Div. v. Commonwealth, 193 Va. 773, 786, 71 S.E.2d 159, 167 (1952). An adjudication of contempt will be reversed "only if we find that [the court] abused its discretion." Barnhi......
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