Lyons v. Sanders

• Decision Date: 16 March 1954
• Citation: 120 F. Supp. 392
• Parties: LYONS et al. v. SANDERS et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky

120 F. Supp. 392

LYONS et al. v. SANDERS et al.

Civ. A. 767.

United States District Court, W. D. Kentucky, at Paducah.

March 16, 1954.

Mahlon Shelbourne, Francis T. Goheen, Jos. S. Freeland, Paducah, Ky., for plaintiffs.

Jos. J. Grace, Roy Vance, Andrew J. Palmer, Paducah, Ky., for defendants.

MILLER, Circuit Judge (sitting by designation).

This action, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, arises out of the same facts which are involved in actions No. 764, Biggs v. Lyons, D.C., 120 F.Supp. 389; 765, Sanders v. International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers, D.C., 120 F.Supp. 390, and 766, which were filed in the McCracken Circuit Court of Kentucky and thereafter removed to the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky prior to the filing of this action.

The facts which are involved in all four of the cases can be briefly summarized as follows: In the latter part of 1953, a controversy arose between the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers and Local Union No. 595 of International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers, by reason of which, on or about September 29, 1953, charges were preferred against certain officers and members of the Local. Following a hearing on the charges, certain officers and members of the Local were suspended or expelled, including W. B. Sanders, Business Agent and Secretary-Treasurer, and P. B. Cloud, its President. John H. Lyons, General President of the International Association, appointed Charles C. Hobbs as Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Business Agent and Business Manager of the Local, and Juel Drake as President of the Local. In action No. 764, certain officers and members of the Local, including Cloud but excluding Sanders, who have refused to recognize the alleged ouster and surrender the offices, attacked the fairness and validity of the proceedings and seek to have the proceedings invalidated. In action No. 765, Sanders separately attacked the fairness and validity of the proceedings and his alleged ouster as Business Agent and Secretary-Treasurer of the Local. In action No. 766, the Peoples First National Bank & Trust Company of Paducah, Kentucky, instituted interpleader proceedings to determine who was entitled to withdraw by check the sum of $13,488.51 on deposit in the bank to the credit of the Local, alleging that both the old officers and the new officers were claiming such right.

The present action was filed by Lyons as General President of the International Association, Hobbs individually and as Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Business Agent and Business Manager of the Local, and Drake individually and as President of the Local, against the suspended or expelled officers of the Local, for the purpose of having the Court declare the status and rights of the parties with respect to the offices of the Local and also its property, which were being claimed by both the old and new officers. The suit included as parties-defendant The Iron Workers Association, a Kentucky corporation, to which it was claimed certain funds of the Local had been transferred, the Peoples First National Bank & Trust Company of Paducah, Kentucky, and the Bank of Marshall County, which also had an account in the sum of $6,999.25 in the name of the Local Union. The complaint sets out the filing of the charges, the result of the hearing, the appointment of the new officers, and the claims of the old officers to the offices and property of the Local Union, asks the Court to determine the rights of the claimants with respect thereto, and for an injunction and other proper orders which would give the International Association and the new officers of the Local the effective control of the Local.

All of the defendants, except the two banks, have filed motions to dismiss the action. Numerous grounds in support of the motions are specified, all of which have been considered. Only the following, upon which reliance appears to be chiefly placed, will be discussed.

The International Association, as a legal entity, is not a party plaintiff. Defendants claim that it is an indispensable party to the action, and that the action should be dismissed for failure to make it a party. The International Association is an unincorporated voluntary association, and under Kentucky law, has no capacity to sue or be sued in its association name. United Mine Workers of America v. Cromer, 159 Ky. 605, 167 S.W. 891. In order to sue or be sued it is necessary to use the medium of a class action. Jackson v....