Peterson v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire. & Eng.

• Decision Date: 23 November 1959
• Docket Number: No. 12623.,12623.
• Parties: Russell E. PETERSON et al., Appellants, v. BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEMEN et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

272 F.2d 115 (1959)

Russell E. PETERSON et al., Appellants, v. BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEMEN et al., Appellees.

No. 12623.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

November 23, 1959.

Richard H. Sproull, Philip E. Byron, Jr., Elkhart, Ind., for appellant.

S. J. Crumpacker, South Bend, Ind., Harold C. Heiss, Harold N. McLaughlin, Cleveland, Ohio, George N. Beamer, South Bend, Ind., Russell Day and Clarence E. Weisell, Cleveland, Ohio, of counsel, for appellees.

Before SCHNACKENBERG, KNOCH and CASTLE, Circuit Judges.

KNOCH, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Russell E. Peterson, William F. Barwiler, Herman Christensen, Frank Mayhousen, Mark T. Hout, and C. T. Jones, members of the two defendant Railroad Brotherhoods, brought this suit April 17, 1958, in the Elkhart Superior Court, Elkhart, Indiana, against defendants, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Robert E. Brown, H. E. Gilbert, S. C. Phillips, and Ray Scott, as officers and members of Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, and as such members representing all of the members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen; and Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, P. J. Ryan, Guy L. Brown, R. E. Davidson, and H. F. Hempy, as officers and members of Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and as such members representing all of the members of the Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, as a class action for themselves and other employees of the New York Central Railroad in the Toledo West Seniority Division, to enjoin the international officers of the two Brotherhoods from carrying into effect their determination affecting plaintiffs' seniority rights.

The New York Central operates yards for car classification, switching, and train make-up at Elkhart, Indiana; Toledo, Ohio; and Niles, Michigan.

The Elkhart and Toledo Yards are both in the Toledo West Seniority District, which includes the territory between Elkhart and Toledo, and which is part of the Division known as Lines West or Western District, embracing the territory between Chicago, Illinois and Buffalo, New York — via Elkhart and Toledo.

The Niles Yard is in the West Division Seniority District, which includes the territory between Niles and Chicago, Illinois, and which is part of the division known as Michigan Central or Northern District embracing the territory between Chicago and Buffalo — via Niles, Jackson and Detroit, Michigan; and Ontario, Canada. Each of the larger divisions include other seniority districts.

During the period from 1955 to 1958, the New York Central Railroad greatly improved the efficiency and capacity of the facilities at Elkhart. With increased capacity at Elkhart, the New York Central Railroad commenced what defendants consider to be, in substance, a new through freight route between Jackson and Elkhart by reconstruction and modernization of various branch lines not previously linked together as a single route for through trains between the two points, so as to divert, to the Main Line via Elkhart, trains formerly operating between Jackson and Chicago over the Michigan Central route via Niles.

The Michigan Central or Northern District employees, anticipating loss of jobs, demanded rights to operate trains in the Western District. Representatives of the Northern and Western District firemen and engineers were unable to arrive at any agreement. The Northern District representatives appealed to the international officers of their two Brotherhoods. The International President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and the Grand Chief Engineer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers made a joint decision, April 11, 1958, which plaintiffs contend was made without authority under the Constitutions of the Brotherhoods.

A count, made by the Railroad, of freight trains operated over the two districts during the period from January 1955 through June 1957 showed about 48% of the total freight to have been over the Northern District and 52% over the Western District.

Accordingly, April 11, 1958, the defendant officers determined that the total jobs remaining on both routes should be shared between the Michigan Central Northern District and the Main Line Western District yard crews in the ratio of 48% to 52%.

In an ex parte hearing, April 17, 1958, the Elkhart Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order without notice enjoining defendants from asking the New York Central Railroad to honor the seniority rights of its employees other than plaintiffs in the Toledo West Seniority District Division, and set hearing on the complaint for temporary injunction for April 28, 1958. Prior to that date, defendants removed the action to the District Court, where plaintiffs' motion to remand was denied on July 18, 1958. The temporary restraining order remained in effect until October 15, 1958, when the District Court denied temporary injunction. Appeal No. 12561 regarding the denial of motion to remand and temporary injunction was dismissed when this appeal was taken from denial of permanent injunction on March 24, 1959.

Plaintiffs state the issues to be:

"(1) Whether the District Court has original jurisdiction of this case as a civil action or proceeding arising under an Act of Congress regulating commerce against restraints and monopolies, and

"(2) Do the provisions of the Brotherhoods\' Constitutions empower the officials to make the determination affecting the seniority rights of the members possessing such rights in the Toledo West Seniority District? And, if not, do the executives of the Brotherhoods have inherent power to make such a determination?"

Plaintiffs argue that this action is a claim for relief under the statutory and common law of the State of Indiana and should have been remanded by the District Court to the State Court where it was originally filed and from which it was removed.

It is conceded by all parties that the question of federal jurisdiction must be determined solely from the allegations of the complaint itself without reference to the petition to remove.

Plaintiffs insist that nowhere in their Complaint do they charge that defendants' conduct is unlawful because it violates a law of the United States, but, on the contrary, defendants' conduct is characterized as unlawful only because it is not in accord with the provisions of the Constitutions of the Brotherhoods.

Defendants read significance in the words used in paragraph 12 of the Complaint which charges defendants with conduct which is "arbitrary, unlawful and in excess of the powers of said defendants."

In support of their position plaintiffs cite a number of cases in which federal courts were found to be lacking in jurisdiction. We have considered these cases with care.

Switchmen's Union of North America v. National Mediation Board, 1943, 320 U.S. 297, at page 301, 64 S.Ct. 95, 88 L. Ed. 61 held that the district court did not have original jurisdiction because Congress had given the Mediation Board the power to resolve controversies concerning the right of the majority of any craft or class of employees to determine who shall be its representative, and that review by the federal district courts of the Board's determination was not necessary to protect that right; Congress having decided upon the method for protection of the right which it created, the specification of the one remedy normally would preclude another remedy. The Supreme Court also (320 U.S. at page 300, 64 S. Ct. at page 97) distinguished the Switchmen's Union case from other cases where it was apparent that but for the general jurisdiction of the federal courts there would be no remedy to enforce the statutory commands which Congress had written into the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S. C.A. § 151 et seq.

Both General Committee etc. v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, 1943, 320 U.S. 323, 64 S.Ct. 146, 88 L.Ed. 76 and General Committee etc. v. Southern Pacific Co., 1943, 320 U.S. 338, 64 S.Ct. 142, 88 L.Ed. 85 concerned the right of the majority of a craft or class of employees to designate the craft or class representative. The Supreme Court in Missouri-Kansas said (320 U.S. at page 336, 64 S.Ct. at page 152) it seemed plain that when Congress came to the question of these jurisdictional disputes, it chose not to leave their solution to the courts and selected different machinery for their solution.

All three of these cases involved jurisdictional controversies between different unions. The Supreme Court held that they did not present justiciable issues under the Railway Labor Act, that the district courts were without power to resolve...