Mobile Mechanical Contractors Ass'n v. Carlough
| Decision Date | 17 August 1978 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 74-409-H. |
| Citation | 456 F. Supp. 310 |
| Parties | MOBILE MECHANICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff, v. Edward J. CARLOUGH, K. C. Doby, Jimmy A. Hinkle, A. Bruce McKenzie, John R. Falvella, Sheet Metal Workers International Association, an unincorporated association, Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local Union # 441, an unincorporated association, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
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Roderick P. Stout, Mobile, Ala., for Carlough, Doby, Hinkle & Unions.
Jerome A. Cooper, Birmingham, Ala., Harry Huge and Thomas J. McGrew, Washington, D. C., Donald W. Fisher, Toledo, Ohio, for A. Bruce McKenzie and John R. Falvella.
Willis C. Darby, Jr., and John Richard Carrigan, Mobile, Ala., for plaintiff.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW ON DEFENDANTS' RENEWED MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Since this lengthy litigation began on October 1, 1974, the complaint has been twice amended, partial summary judgment entered on December 29, 1975, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in part affirmed and in part remanded that partial summary judgment, 566 F.2d 1213 (5th Cir. 1977). As the Fifth Circuit recognized, certain issues relating to damage claims by Mobile Mechanical Contractors Association, Inc. (MMCA) remain pending, and careful consideration of these claims may be aided by a brief statement of the underlying basis for each of these claims.
MMCA seeks damages in its Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Causes of Action. Damages are sought against Carlough and the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association (SMWIA); no damages are sought against the other union defendants, Doby, Hinkle, and Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local Union No. 441 (Local 441).
The Third Cause of Action seeks damages against Carlough and SMWIA as a matter of federal law, based upon a damage remedy implied by Section 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (LMRA), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 186. This Cause of Action would therefore depend upon, first, whether a violation of Section 302 has taken place; and, second, whether a damage remedy is implied under the analysis of the United States Supreme Court set out in Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 45 L.Ed.2d 26 (1975). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recognized such an implied damage remedy for violation of Section 302 in Nedd v. United Mine Workers, 556 F.2d 190 (3d Cir. 1977). There is also a question, recognized but not decided by the Fifth Circuit, whether this court may assert jurisdiction over the Third Cause of Action under 28 U.S.C. § 1337, as an action "arising under" an act of Congress regulating commerce.
The Fourth Cause of Action presents pendent state law claims against Carlough and SMWIA, and the Fifth Cause of Action presents a diversity claim under state law against Carlough individually and as representative of members of SMWIA, pursuant to Rule 23.2, F.R.Civ.P. MMCA has argued that, whether or not a damage remedy is implied by federal law for violation of Section 302, Alabama state law gives a damage remedy for a person injured by wrongful interference with its lawful business. MMCA also seeks punitive damages in the Fourth and Fifth Causes of Action. MMCA has argued that Alabama law has long recognized that a person injured in his person or property by breach of a duty imposed by law may recover damages, Ala.Constitution of 1901, Art. I, Sec. 13. Specifically, MMCA argues a claim based upon the Alabama tort of wrongful interference with a lawful occupation, on the basis that defendants Carlough and SMWIA caused a strike for SASMI which violated Section 302, and which resulted in injury to MMCA.
The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Causes of Action each depend upon a determination that MMCA was injured by activity of defendants Carlough and SMWIA that violated Section 302. Therefore the lawfulness of the activities of Carlough and SMWIA under Section 302 is a critical underlying question in each such cause of action.
The Seventh Cause of Action rests on a different theory, and different jurisdictional basis. MMCA asserts under the Seventh Cause of Action that it is entitled to damages under Section 303 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 187, which gives a cause of action in federal court to anyone injured by a violation of Section 8(b)(4) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4). MMCA asserts that Carlough and SMWIA violated Section 8(b)(4)(A), 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4)(A), by efforts to force MMCA to join an "employer organization" within the meaning of Section 8(b)(4)(A). A damage action under Section 303 by an employer allegedly forced to act as if it joined an employer organization within the meaning of Section 8(b)(4)(A) has been upheld in Frito-Lay, Inc. v. Teamsters, 401 F.Supp. 370 (N.D.Cal.1975); and damages were awarded in that case after trial. Frito-Lay, Inc. v. Teamsters, 94 LRRM 3047 (March 26, 1976 and February 8, 1977).
MMCA has argued that the demand for SASMI necessarily included as a condition of SASMI that MMCA agree to Article X, Section 8, of the SMWIA "Standard Form of Union Agreement" (MMCA Exhibit 33, 10/8/74). Article X, Section 8, would provide for determination of subsequent contract terms by the "National Joint Adjustment Board", which is composed of representatives of SMWIA and representatives of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA). MMCA has argued that SMACNA is an employer organization, and the demand for SASMI included a demand for Article X, Section 8, which thereby violated Section 8(b)(4)(A) as an effort to force MMCA to join an "employer organization." MMCA further argued that Section 8(b)(4)(A) prohibits union efforts to force involuntary industry-wide bargaining and MMCA has contended that Carlough and SMWIA sought to force MMCA to engage in industry-wide bargaining with respect to SASMI.
The question of the legal sufficiency of the claims of MMCA in the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Causes of Action appear to be issues of law, rather than issues as to which there is a disputed material fact. The amount of damages, however, appears to be a question of fact.
On March 7, 1975, the Union Defendants (Carlough, Doby, Hinkle, SMWIA, and Local 441) moved for summary judgment on all issues raised by the amended complaint, including the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Causes of Action. After submission of briefs and due consideration of testimony at the October 8, 1974, hearing on preliminary injunction and testimony presented by defendants at the March 21, 1975 argument on summary judgment, affidavits, other evidence and arguments of counsel, this court on April 4, 1975, carried the motion for summary judgment with the case. On September 17, 1975, the court granted the motion of MMCA to amend the complaint to state the Seventh Cause of Action, a damage claim arising under Section 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 187. On November 21, 1975, Carlough, Doby, Hinkle, SMWIA, and Local 441 filed a motion for summary judgment as to the Seventh Cause of Action. Such motion was denied on March 26, 1976.
On December 29, 1975, this court entered partial summary judgment granting declaratory judgment as to the First and Second Causes of Action. The judgment of December 29, 1975, was appealed, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in part, and vacated in part, 566 F.2d 1213 (5th Cir. 1977).
Carlough, Doby, Hinkle, SMWIA, and Local 441, on May 10, 1978 renewed their motion for summary judgment as to the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Causes of Action, in light of the decision of the Fifth Circuit on appeal, 556 F.2d 1213 (5th Cir. 1977). Oral argument was heard on May 26, 1978. After due consideration of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, affidavits, testimony at the October 8, 1974 hearing on preliminary injunction, testimony at the October 15, 1974 hearing on the contempt petition of MMCA, and the testimony presented by the Union Defendants at the March 21, 1975 argument on summary judgment, exhibits in evidence, and having heard the arguments of counsel, having considered the memoranda of law filed by counsel for both sides, and having considered the applicable law, the Court finds as follows:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. MMCA is an incorporated employer association which represented several employers in collective bargaining negotiations with defendant Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local Union No. 441 (Local 441) from July through October, 1974. A substantial part of the business of MMCA is representing employers in negotiating and administering collective bargaining agreements (PLAINTIFF'S ANSWERS TO INTERROGATORIES, Interrogatory No. 29, February 3, 1975).
2. Defendant Carlough has been at all times material hereto, the general president of SMWIA, and a trustee of SASMI.
3. Defendant Doby has been at all times material hereto, an employee and "organizer" of SMWIA and Local 441 (Testimony of Rettig, 10/8/74, T. 37-38; MMCA Ex. 21, 22, 3/21/75).
4. Defendant Hinkle has been at all times material hereto, an employee and "organizer" of SMWIA (MMCA Ex. 19, 20, 21, 22, 3/21/75).
5. Defendant SMWIA (a) is an unincorporated association, (b) is a labor organization, and (c) is engaged in this judicial district in representing employees in the construction industry.
6. Defendant Local 441(a) is an unincorporated association, (b) is a labor organization, and (c) is engaged in this judicial district in representing employees in the construction industry.
7. Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (a) is engaged in the construction industry, and (b) designated MMCA as its representative for the purposes of 1974 collective...
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