El Mundo, Inc. v. Puerto Rico Newspaper Guild, Local 225

Decision Date20 June 1972
Docket NumberCiv. No. 167-72.
Citation346 F. Supp. 106
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico
PartiesEL MUNDO, INC., Daniel Rigau and others named in Appendix "A", and all other Management & Professional Employees of El Mundo, Inc., as representatives of their Class, Plaintiffs, v. PUERTO RICO NEWSPAPER GUILD, LOCAL 225, Affiliated with The Newspaper Guild, AFL-CIO, also known as Union De Periodistas, Artes Graficas Y Ramas Anexas, Defendant.

Fiddler, González & Rodíguez, San Juan, P. R., for plaintiffs.

Francisco Aponte Pérez, George L. Weasler, Alfredo Nazario, San Juan, P. R., for defendant.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

TOLEDO, District Judge.

This is an action for injunctive relief and damages filed by plaintiffs, a newspaper publisher and certain individuals,1 against defendant labor organization, pursuant to Sections 1983 and 1985 of Title 42, United States Code and their jurisdictional counterpart, Section 1343 of Title 28, United States Code. The aforesaid remedies are sought on the alleged basis that defendant has engaged in mass picketing, violence and coercion during the course of a labor dispute with plaintiff, El Mundo, Inc., and has prevented the individually named plaintiffs,2 and others, from ingress and egress to the physical premises of El Mundo, Inc. It is further alleged that the mass picketing, violence and coercion practiced by the defendant, its officers, members and others, are acts "under color of the Laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico",3 which have caused and are causing plaintiffs and others to be subjected to deprivation of rights secured to them by the Constitution and Laws of the United States, specifically the right to liberty, property and livelihood, without due process of law, in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 1983. It is finally alleged that the defendant, together with its members, officers and agents, have conspired to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the law in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 1985.4

On February 16, 1972, a Temporary Restraining Order was issued and the case was set for hearing on February 18, 1972. At the hearing, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint and vacate the temporary restraining order. Said motion basically alleged, inter alia, that: the facts alleged in the complaint do not support a cause of action under Title 42, United States Code, Sections 1983 and 1985; the complaint fails to allege an official state action under color of the Constitution and Laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; the National Labor Relations Board has primary jurisdiction to remedy the alleged conduct charged to defendant, under Section 8(b) (1) (A) of the National Labor Relations Act; the Court lacks jurisdiction to issue temporary or permanent injunctive relief as the complaint alleges a labor dispute covered by the Norris La Guardia Act; the complaint fails to state a proper class action. At the hearing, the parties stipulated into evidence certain documents showing that El Mundo, Inc. has filed certain unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the commission by defendant of unfair labor practices in violation of Section 8(b) (1) (A) of the National Labor Relations Act. Other documents stipulated into evidence indicate El Mundo, Inc. has filed various petitions seeking clarification, from the National Labor Relations Board, of certain job classifications which are in controversy between the parties. Oral argument was heard and the parties were granted additional time for the filing of briefs.

On the basis of the foregoing and after having fully considered plaintiffs' verified petition, defendant's motion to vacate the temporary restraining order and to dismiss the complaint, the briefs filed by counsel and the entire record of the case, the Court makes the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff, El Mundo, Inc., is a corporation existing under and by virtue of the Laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, where it is engaged in the publication and circulation of a newspaper under the name "El Mundo".

2. Plaintiffs Daniel Rigau and others named in Appendix A to the complaint are individuals employed in various jobs and positions by El Mundo.

3. Defendant is a labor organization representing various employees of El Mundo with respect to wages, hours and other working conditions and is so certified by the National Labor Relations Board.

4. On February 10, 1972, the defendant called a strike at the premises of El Mundo, placed pickets in the area and there has been mass picketing and violence. The strike and picketing is currently being carried on and various individual employees have been prevented from entering and leaving the premises of their employer, El Mundo, to carry on their regular duties and functions.

5. The complaint also states that the mass picketing and violence carried on by the defendant, its officers, agents and members is under color of the laws of, and specifically, under Article II, Section 18, of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Plaintiffs complain such action deprives them of rights secured by the Constitution of the United States and deprives them of liberty, property and livelihood without due process of law in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 1983.

6. The complaint finally states that the defendant, together with its members, officers and agents, has conspired to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 1985.

In view of the foregoing findings of fact, the Court makes the following:

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

Section 1983 of Title 42, United States Code, provides:

"Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress."

In the case of Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L. Ed.2d 142 (1970), the Supreme Court was confronted with an action by a white school teacher against respondent, S. H. Kress, to recover damages under Title 42, United States Code, Section 1983. The petitioner complained that the respondent had violated her constitutional rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by refusing to service her in respondent's luncheon when she was accompanied by six negro students. In relation to the elements of a Section 1983 action, the Court, at page 150, 90 S.Ct. at page 1604 expressed the following:

"The terms of § 1983 make plain two elements that are necessary for recovery. First, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant has deprived him of a right secured by the `Constitutions and laws' of the United States. Second, the plaintiffs must show that the defendant deprived him of this constitutional right `under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory.' This second element requires that the plaintiff show that the defendant acted "under color of law." (cited cases are omitted by this Court).

The Supreme Court further stated that the "state action" needed to show a direct violation of petitioner's Fourteenth Amendment Rights, entitling her to relief under Section 1983, was provided by the involvement of a policeman, a state official, who arrested her for vagrancy when she left respondent's premises, in the alleged conspiracy. As to that effect, the Supreme Court, at page 152, 90 S.Ct. at page 1605 stated the following:

"* * * Although this is a lawsuit against a private party, not the State or one of its officials, our cases make clear that petitioner will have made out a violation of her Fourteenth Amendment rights and will be entitled to relief under § 1983 if she can prove that a Kress employee, in the course of employment, and a Hattiesburg policeman somehow reached an understanding to deny Miss Adickes service in the Kress store, or to cause her subsequent arrest because she was a white person in the company of Negroes.
The involvement of a state official in such a conspiracy plainly provides the state action essential to show a direct violation of petitioner's Fourteenth Amendment equal protection rights, whether or not the actions of the police were officially authorized, or lawful; Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961); see United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 326, 61 S.Ct. 1031, 1043, 85 L.Ed. 1368 (1941); Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 107-111, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 1038-1040, 89 L.Ed. 1495 (1945); Williams v. United States, 341 U.S. 97, 99-100, 71 S.Ct. 576, 578-579, 95 L.Ed. 774 (1951). Moreover, a private party involved in such a conspiracy, even though not an official of the State, can be liable under § 1983. `Private persons jointly engaged with state officials in the prohibited action, are acting "under color" of law for purposes of the statute. To act "under color" of law does not require that the accused be an officer of the State. It is enough that he is a willful participant in joint activity with the State or its agents.' United States v. Price, 383 U.S. 787, 794, 86 S.Ct. 1152, 1157, 16 L.Ed.2d 267 (1966)."

In the case of Wackenhut Corporation v. Union de Tronquistas de Puerto Rico, Local 901, 336 F.Supp. 1058 (D.C. 1971), this Court was confronted in a Civil Rights' action for deprivation of Fourteenth Amendment rights, with the issue, among the many solved by the Court, whether Wackenhut Corporation could invoke Section 1983 of Title 42, United States Code, and its jurisdictional counterpart, Section 1343(3), of Title 28, United States Code, against a defendant which was...

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