McCuiston v. Hoffa

• Decision Date: 14 April 2004
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 04-70047.,CIV. 04-70047.
• Citation: 313 F.Supp.2d 710
• Parties: Donna McCUISTON, Rick Miazga, and Ava Miller, Plaintiffs, v. James P. HOFFA; C.B. Conder a/k/a "Doc" Conder; and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO, a Labor Organization Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

313 F.Supp.2d 710

Donna McCUISTON, Rick Miazga, and Ava Miller, Plaintiffs, v. James P. HOFFA; C.B. Conder a/k/a "Doc" Conder; and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO, a Labor Organization Defendants.

No. CIV. 04-70047.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

April 14, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Barbara M. Harvey, Detroit, MI, for Plaintiffs.

Wayne A. Rudell, Rudell & O'Neil, Dearborn, MI, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

FEIKENS, District Judge.

Plaintiffs are residents of Michigan and members of local unions in Michigan. They filed suit against defendants Hoffa (a resident of southeast Michigan), Conder (a resident of Kansas City, Missouri), and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), which has its principal office in Washington D.C.. The complaint had three counts: (1) a violation of equal voting rights in violation of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. § 411(a)(1); (2) breach of the IBT constitution in violation of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 185; and (3) breach of duty of fair representation in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 159(a).

Defendant Conder moved to dismiss this case on the basis that this Court lacks personal jurisdiction and venue in this Court is improper. Defendants Hoffa and the IBT brought a motion to dismiss that in part challenges venue as improper. Plaintiff contests these motions. For the reasons below, I find that this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over all claims, personal jurisdiction over all defendants, and is a proper venue for all claims. I further find none of the claims merit discretionary transfer to another venue.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The heart of plaintiffs' claim is the allegation that defendants announced that plaintiffs' contract, the Michigan Office Workers Supplement, had been ratified in an election when it in fact had not. Plaintiffs comprise three of sixteen voters on the contract. (Miazga Declaration ¶ 7; Br. in Support of Def. Conder's Mt. to Dismiss, 4.) The vote, which took place at various locations across Michigan, occurred on July 24, 2003. (Complaint ¶ 18.) Ballots were then mailed to Washington, D.C.. (Complaint ¶ 19.) The ratification of the contract was announced on August 1, 2003 by defendants Hoffa and Conder. (Mt. for Preliminary Inj. Ex. F.)

ANALYSIS

The first determination to be made is whether this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over each count. That determination requires analyzing: (1) whether there is a statutory basis for jurisdiction in this Court; and (2) whether my jurisdiction is barred by the Consent Decree issued in the Southern District of New York involving IBT. If subject matter jurisdiction exists, the next question to be considered is whether this Court has personal jurisdiction over the defendants. Following that inquiry, the next question for this Court is whether the case should be transferred to another venue. I will address the issues in that order.

A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Plaintiff asserts three statutory bases for subject matter jurisdiction (one for each count). I will address them in the order of the counts in the complaint. I will then analyze the Consent Decree in the Teamsters case to establish whether it bars my jurisdiction over this case.

1. LMRA

The LMRA's subject matter jurisdictional statute, which was section 301 of the original legislation,¹ reads, "Suits for violations of contracts between...any such labor organizations may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties." 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). Labor union constitutions are considered contracts covered by this provision. Wooddell v. Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 502 U.S. 93, 112 S.Ct. 494, 116 L.Ed.2d 419 (1991). Thus, as long as personal jurisdiction is present, this Court has jurisdiction over plaintiffs' LMRA claim.

2. LMDRA

The LMRDA's jurisdictional statute reads in part,² "Any person whose rights secured by the provisions of this subchapter have been infringed by any violation of this subchapter may bring a civil action in a district court of the United States for such relief (including injunctions) as may be appropriate." 29 U.S.C. § 412.

Plaintiffs allege a violation of the rights protected by 29 U.S.C. § 411(a), which provides in part that "every member of a labor organization shall have equal rights [...] to vote in elections." Although courts have imposed fairly stringent requirements on the allegations that qualify as raising an issue under this provision, a "variance or irregularity [that] results in discriminatory deprivation of an individual's right to cast a meaningful vote" does qualify. Blanchard v. Johnson, 532 F.2d 1074 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 869, 97 S.Ct. 180, 50 L.Ed.2d 149 (1976). The right to cast a meaningful vote certainly includes the right to have the votes be counted in a non-fraudulent manner, and the allegations here do include discriminatory deprivation, since the "yes" votes were allegedly counted accurately while "no" votes were not. Therefore, plaintiffs do allege a violation of the appropriate section, and this Court has jurisdiction over the LMRDA claim.

3. National Labor Relations Act and the General Jurisdiction Statute

The duty of fair representation is inferred from the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 159(a). Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local No. 391 v. Terry, 494 U.S. 558, 563, 110 S.Ct. 1339, 108 L.Ed.2d 519 (1990). The National Labor Relations Act does not have its own jurisdiction provision, so jurisdiction over this claim is properly reached under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. See, e.g., Moore v. Local Union 569 of Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 989 F.2d 1534, 1537 (9th Cir.1993).

4. Consent Decree

The Consent Judgment entered in the Southern District of New York that affects the IBT does not apply to this litigation and therefore does not bar my jurisdiction over this case. The consent decree gives the Southern District of New York exclusive jurisdiction over those actions that challenge any act of the Independent Review Board (IRB) that the federal court created to oversee investigations of the Teamsters. United States v. IBT, 728 F.Supp. 1032, 1039 n. 5 (S.D.N.Y.1990), aff'd 907 F.2d 277 (2nd Cir.1990). Because the plaintiffs do not challenge any action of the IRB, the order under the All Writs Act limiting jurisdiction does not act as a bar to my hearing the case.

B. Personal Jurisdiction

1. Defendants Hoffa and IBT

Defendants Hoffa and IBT did not raise the issue of personal jurisdiction. Failure to raise the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction will result in it being waived. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(g).

Plaintiffs have the burden of establishing that this Court has personal jurisdiction over defendant Conder.³ Neogen v. Neo Gen Screening, 282 F.3d 883, 887 (6th Cir.2002). A court must consider all affidavits and pleadings in a light most favorable to plaintiffs.⁴ Dean v. Motel 6 Operating L.P., 134 F.3d 1269, 1272 (6th Cir.1998). A federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant if such jurisdiction (1) is authorized by the law of the state in which it sits, and (2) satisfies the requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Neogen, 282 F.3d 883, 887 (6th Cir.2002) (citing Reynolds v. Int'l Amateur Athletic Fed'n, 23 F.3d 1110, 1115 (6th Cir.1994)).

This Court is bound by an interpretation of the Michigan long-arm statute as conferring "the maximum scope of personal jurisdiction permitted by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," LAK, Inc. v. Deer Creek Enterprises, 885 F.2d 1293, 1298 (6th Cir.1989) (citations omitted). Therefore, the analysis of whether this Court can exercise personal jurisdiction turns on whether the due process requirements have been met in this case.

In order to satisfy due process, a nonresident defendant must have sufficient contacts with the forum state to allow the district court's exercise of jurisdiction to comport with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). The Sixth Circuit employs three criteria to determine whether this requirement has been met: (1) whether the defendant has personally availed himself of the privilege of acting in the forum state or causing a consequence in the forum state; (2) whether the cause of action arises from the defendant's activities in the forum state; and (3) whether the acts of the defendant or consequences caused by the defendant have a substantial enough connection with the forum to make the exercise of jurisdiction reasonable. Neogen, 282 F.3d 883, 889-890 (6th Cir.2002) (citing S. Mach. Co. v. Mohasco Indus., Inc., 401 F.2d 374, 381 (6th Cir.1968)); CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson, 89 F.3d 1257, 1263 (6th Cir.1996).

Plaintiffs allege in their complaint that Conder falsely announced that the agreement in question, which affected Michigan workers only, had been ratified. (Compl.¶ 20, ¶ 22.) The allegation that defendant Conder personally and purposefully made an announcement that had consequences in Michigan (and indeed, only in Michigan), that action does rise to the level of personal availment. Secondly, if we assume the second prong of the Sixth Circuit's test is meant to test whether the action arises out of the acts identified as personal availment in the first prong, and are not limited to activities that occurred within the forum state,⁵ then because the cause of action is based directly on that false announcement, the cause of action also arises from defendant's action that caused a consequence in the forum state. Finally, because the consequences of Conder's alleged announcement occurred only in Michigan, that is certainly...