Pichler v. Unite
| Decision Date | 30 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 04-2841. |
| Citation | 446 F.Supp.2d 353 |
| Parties | Elizabeth PICHLER, et al. v. UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees AFL-CIO), et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Susan M. Jennik, Thomas M. Kennedy, Kennedy, Jennik & Murray, P.C., Irwin Rochman, Rochman Platzer Fallick Sternheim Luca & Pearl, LLP, Dennis Torreggiani, New York, NY, Laurence M. Goodman, Mark Featherman, Willig, Williams & Davidson, Thomas Herman Kohn, Markowitz & Richman, Philadelphia, PA, for UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees AFL-CIO) and Bruce Raynor.
Robert C. Welsh, O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Cintas Corporation.
In 2003 and 2004, two labor unions obtained many license plate numbers from cars in the parking lots of a firm whose employees they were attempting to organize. The unions used those license plate numbers to get employees' names and addresses. Claiming that the unions' actions violated the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 ("DPPA" or the "Act"),1 the named plaintiffs brought this class action. Before us now are the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment2 and their stipulations of face,3
I. Factual Background
Cintas Corporation ("Cintas") is the largest employer in the industrial laundry industry in the United States. Jt. Stipulation of Facts for Parties' Cross-Motions for Summ. J. ("Stip.") ¶ 13. It employs about 28,000 people at 350 locations in the United States and Canada, and many employees working in Cintas facilities are either female, black, or Hispanic. Id. ¶¶ 13, 15. Cintas is philosophically opposed to unions and union organizing. Id. ¶ 16.4
In the fall of 2002, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees AFL-CIO ("UNITE")5 "decided to launch a campaign concerning Cintas." Id. ¶ 14. Bruce Raynor, who has been the President of UNITE since July of 2001,6 id. ¶ 10, described the Cintas campaign in a November 30, 2001 letter to John Sweeney, the President of the AFL-CIO:
Our biggest challenge will be launching our organizing drive against several laundries owned by Cintas, the nation's largest, and very anti-union, uniform services company. Cintas will prove to be the toughest adversary for UNITE for several years, but this is a campaign that we must wage due to Cintas' 23% market share in the uniform services sector.
Id. Ex. A.
The record, which we now canvass, confirms what these Cintas and UNITE policy statements suggest. Each party sees its opponent as the white whale.
The Cintas campaign consisted of a preparation, or planning, phase and a public phase. Stip. ¶ 25. UNITE's preparation phase took place in the fall and early winter of 2002 through 2003. Id. It involved finding out as much as possible about Cintas and any issues its workers might have, preparing written materials and organizing strategy, and compiling lists of names and addresses of workers to contact during the public phase. Id. From the beginning, "a component of the campaign to organize and unionize Cintas workers" was "finding potential legal claims against Cintas, in part through home visits." Id. ¶ 21; see also id. Ex. DD Garren Decl. ¶ 2, Dec. 2, 2005.7
During the course of its research, UNITE learned that Cintas had paid a ten million dollar settlement in Vaca v. Cintas, BC 250459 (Sup.Ct.Cal. Sept. 4, 2002), an action alleging that UNITE had violated California overtime laws. Stip. ¶ 18. UNITE also learned that Cintas had been a defendant in actions alleging unlawful employment discrimination, and was a respondent in OSHA and NLRB proceedings. Id. ¶ 19. Moreover, UNITE's research uncovered alleged unfair labor practice charges that unions had filed against Cintas and its subsidiaries from 1998 through 2001. Id. ¶ 20.
UNITE prepared documents concerning strategy and training for the campaign.8 By the fall of 2002, UNITE had prepared a "Campaign Plan" that described its "Goal" as a "National Contract covering workers in 6-7 key cities covering 3000 workers." Id. Ex. I; see also Pls.' Mem. of Law in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. ( ) Ex. 11 Qadeer Dep. 146:8-149:23.9 The Plan's "Campaign Strategy" included a "Legal" component: "Identify any areas where the company is violating the rights of the workers (FLSA, OSHA, NLRB, EEOC et.) file lawsuits to ensure that the company follows the law." Stip. Ex. I. In each of the seven metropolitan areas that UNITE targeted, it hired a law firm to assist legal coordinators and provide representation to Cintas employees identified as potential plaintiffs. UNITE's Mem. Qadeer Decl. ¶ 8.
UNITE also prepared a 132-page "Legal Training Laundry Campaign" document which UNITE attorneys, along with outside counsel, used on September 11 and 12, 2002 to train twelve UNITE members who were the lead organizers and legal coordinators for the regions where UNITE would kick off its campaign. Id. Ex. L; see also id. Ex. DD Garren Decl. ¶ 4; UNITE's Mem. Qadeer Decl. ¶ 6, Chambers Decl. ¶ 14, May 11, 2006.10 According to the "Agenda for Legal Training," the two-day training covered such topics as the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), the Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), various types of discrimination, unfair labor practices, and workers' compensation. Stip. Ex. L at Bates No. 055580.11 In November of 2002, UNITE conducted another training session that about sixty field staff attended. Chambers Decl. ¶ 15. This included a half-day training session on identifying employee legal violations and the role of legal coordinators. Id. A month later, at its Organizing Summit on December 6 and 7, 2002, UNITE used a Power Point presentation that included a slide stating, "What it will take to beat CINTAS ... Sustained ground campaign to win support of workers and develop legal and moral attack on company." Stip. Ex. D at Bates No. 026753.12
"In order to contact workers as part of UNITE's organizing campaign," UNITE compiled lists of names and addresses of presumed Cintas workers using a variety of sources, including other workers, telephone and city directories, cross-directories, other public records, Internet databases, raffles, and discarded company lists. Stip. ¶ 29. Some organizers also followed workers home to get addresses. Pls.' Mem. Ex. 16 Scimone Dep. 108:19-109:21, Aug. 23, 2005.13 UNITE planned to visit thousands of Cintas employees in their homes. Stip. ¶ 22. It deemed such house calls essential because it believed that workers would be reluctant to talk to UNITE representatives at work for fear that Cintas management would retaliate. Id. ¶ 41.
Most significantly for purposes of this case, UNITE accessed motor vehicle records "to help create lists of names of presumed Cintas workers to contact at home as part of UNITE's Cintas campaign." Id. UNITE has used this method—sometimes referred to as "tagging"—in organizing campaigns since at least the 1970s. Id. ¶ 31. The site coordinators at the various facilities that UNITE was seeking to organize had discretion to use motor vehicle information to build their lists. Id. 1138. UNITE representatives testified that they were unaware of the union issuing any guidelines, directives, or restrictions regarding when and how organizers could access motor vehicle records. See Pls.' Mem. Ex. 7 Raynor Dep. 53:9-21, Feb. 16, 2005; Ex. 1 Bennett Dep. 140:19-141:5, Jan. 12, 2006; Ex. 12 Chambers Dep. 53:9-21, Sep. 28, 2005; Ex. 14 Gres Dep. 59:21-60:8, July 29, 2005; Ex. 9 Mestrich Dep. 46:6-47:17, Feb. 3, 2005; Ex. 8 DeMay Dep. 55:21-24, 64:10-15, Feb. 8, 2005; Ex. 16 Scimone Dep. 136:10-15.14
UNITE used license plate numbers on cars found in Cintas parking lots to access information relating to those license plate numbers contained in state motor vehicle records. Stip. ¶ 30. UNITE organizers would typically watch, or walk or drive through, a Cintas parking lot and either write down or dictate into a tape recorder (to be transcribed later) the license plate numbers, and sometimes the makes and models, of cars parked in the lot, or entering or leaving it. Id. ¶ 33. Ideally, the organizers looked to see if the same license plate showed up at least twice to minimize the risk that the car belonged to a random visitor rather than a Cintas employee. Id. UNITE organizers would use their lists of license plate numbers to access motor vehicle records in one of two ways: through Westlaw—a computer-assisted research database that has motor vehicle record databases for about thirty states—or through private investigators or "information brokers." Id. ¶ 34.
UNITE maintained two Westlaw accounts that allowed access to databases called WestLaw Public Records Pro. Id. ¶ 35. Jason Coulter, UNITE's Assistant National Organizing Director as of September 1, 2001, see Supp. Stip. Ex. GG, maintained one account, and Peter DeMay, UNITE's Organizing Director for the Chicago and mid-states region, maintained the other. Stip. ¶ 35. Westlaw account 1003099727, started on September 10, 2002, was originally in the name of Daniel Kotzin, who was a friend of Coulter and not an employee of UNITE. Id. Beginning in December of 2002, that account was in the name of "Jason Coulter Consulting—UNITE." Id. The other Westlaw account, 1003853823, was in the name of UNITE since its inception on March 27, 2002 and throughout its existence. Id.
Before an organizer could access the information on Westlaw, a screen would appear that asked the inquiring party to check a box designating which of certain specified "permitted uses" applied that entitled the user to access pursuant to the...
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