Pocahontas Term. Corp. v. PORTLAND BLDG. & CONST. TR. C.

• Citation: 93 F. Supp. 217
• Decision Date: 21 September 1950
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 738.
• Parties: POCAHONTAS TERMINAL CORPORATION v. PORTLAND BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADE COUNCIL et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

93 F. Supp. 217

POCAHONTAS TERMINAL CORPORATION v. PORTLAND BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADE COUNCIL et al.

Civ. No. 738.

United States District Court D. Maine. S. D.

September 21, 1950.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

William S. Linnell, Sidney W. Thaxter, Portland, Me., for plaintiff.

Sidney W. Wernick, Jacob H. Berman, Portland Me., Henry Wise, Boston, Mass., for defendants.

CLIFFORD, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on plaintiff's motion to remand to the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

On the 11th day of August, 1950, the plaintiff filed in the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine, for the County of Cumberland, a Bill of Complaint, in Equity, in which application was made for a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction, and a permanent injunction to enjoin the defendants from the continuance of the picketing alleged by it in its complaint.

On the 15th day of August, 1950, the defendants, by regular and timely proceedings, removed the complaint to this Court. Two days thereafter, on August 17, 1950, the plaintiff filed in this Court its motion to remand the case to the Maine Court for the reason that this Court lacked original jurisdiction to hear the cause. At the conclusion of the hearing on the motion to remand, this Court issued its order overruling the motion.

Section 1441(a), U.S.C.A., Title 28, authorizes removal from the State Court to the United States District Court of "any civil action * * * of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction * * *."

Section 1337, U.S.C.A., Title 28, confers original jurisdiction on the District Court "of any civil action or proceeding arising under any Act of Congress regulating commerce * * *." Under this section, jurisdiction does not rest on questions of amount involved or diversity of citizenship. See Mulford v. Smith, 1946, 307 U.S. 38, 46, 59 S.Ct. 648, 83 L.Ed. 1092.

The fundamental issue presented by the motion to remand is whether this action arises under any act of Congress regulating commerce. Section 1337, U.S.C.A., Title 28, provides the test to be applied in determining the question relating to the original jurisdiction of the United States District Court. The Act claimed applicable to sustain removal is the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, commonly known as the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S. C.A. § 141 et seq. While the complaint itself makes no mention of this statute and only incidental reference to the National Labor Relations Board, this Court takes judicial notice of any Federal laws necessarily brought into play by the allegations of the complaint; and it is immaterial that specific reference to such laws may be omitted in the pleading. Southern Pacific Company v. Stewart, 1917, 245 U.S. 359, 362, 38 S.Ct. 130, 62 L.Ed. 345; Downey v. Geary-Wright Tobacco Company, D.C. E.D.Ky.1941, 39 F.Supp. 33.

To determine whether the Taft-Hartley Act is the real basis of the present proceeding, this Court must ascertain:

(1) Whether the complaint shows a controversy affecting interstate commerce within the meaning of that law; and

(2) Whether the alleged illegality of defendants' acts, as set forth in the complaint, necessarily stems from the Taft-Hartley Act.

These questions must be answered from the face of plaintiff's complaint alone, as filed in the State Court, unaided by reference to any other pleadings or to the petition for removal itself. In Armstrong v. Alliance Trust Co., 5 Cir., 1942, 126 F.2d 164, 167, the Court said: "In order to sustain the jurisdiction of the United States District Court on the ground of a federal question in a case removed thereto from a state court, it is not sufficient for the question to be raised in the answer of the defendant or in the petition for removal. The federal question must clearly appear on the face of the declaration or complaint as an essential and integral part of the plaintiff's statement of his own case, not in anticipation of a defense that may be interposed by an adversary party. A federal question merely incidental or collateral to the main controversy is not the basis of the suit and is not enough to deprive the state court of jurisdiction upon petition for removal by the defendant."

The complaint in this case alleges that the plaintiff is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware and registered to do business in the State of Maine; and that the defendant, the Portland Building and Construction Trade Council, is a voluntary and unincorporated labor organization, embracing within its membership certain local unions affiliated with national labor organizations in the construction and building trades. Designated as defendants, likewise, are certain representatives of these local unions, named both as individuals and in their representative capacities. The plaintiff further alleges that it is the owner of certain real estate in the city of South Portland, Maine, located at 175 Front Street, upon which it is constructing an oil terminal consisting of an unloading pier and several large storage tanks; that it has employed three contracting companies to do the construction work involved; namely, W. H. Hinman and Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with a place of business located in North Anson, Maine; Ellis C. Snodgrass, Inc., a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Maine, with a place of business located in the City of Portland, Maine; and the Bethlehem Steel Company, the only bidder equipped to perform the job of constructing the tanks themselves; that Hinman and Company and Snodgrass, Inc., employ non-union labor; that the Bethlehem Steel Company employs union labor; that the contract with Snodgrass, Inc., was signed on April 14, 1950; that shortly thereafter contracts were entered into by the plaintiff with the Hinman and Bethlehem Companies; that construction work proceeded from April 14, 1950 until July 27, 1950, when a picket line was placed around the entrance to the plaintiff's place of business where construction was under way; that these pickets carried placards stating that plaintiff was unfair to union labor; that as a result of the placing of the pickets here, the union employees of Bethlehem Steel Company refused to cross the line or perform work upon the job, and the construction of the oil storage tanks ceased and has not continued up until the date of the complaint; that the pickets in the picket line are all members of unions belonging to the defendant, Portland Building and Construction Trade Council, and were placed there by said council, the defendant, Joseph A. Vanier, Jr., or his or its officers, servants or agents; that the plaintiff has done everything in its power to determine the cause of the controversy and to reach a reasonable compromise thereof; that a hearing was had on August 3, 1950, before the Maine State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation, at which hearing the plaintiff, the Snodgrass and Hinman Companies, and the defendants were represented; that the representatives of the defendants complained that the Snodgrass and Hinman companies were employing non-union labor on the job, together with union men, and demanded that these companies employ only union labor on all their jobs throughout the State of Maine, thus, in effect, demanding a closed shop; that representatives of the Hinman Company agreed to employ union men on this job, but refused to accede to the union demand concerning the whole State of Maine; that the Snodgrass Company could not accede to the demands of the defendants to employ only union labor on this job because in 1948 its employees voted in an election before the National Labor Relations Board to have a non-union shop and that certification of that election is still before the N. L. R. B.; that no strike is in progress on the plaintiff's property or against the Hinman, Snodgrass, or Bethlehem Steel Companies; that there is no dispute between the employees of these companies and the companies, their agents or officers, concerning working conditions, rate of pay, or unionization; that because of this picketing of plaintiff's premises the construction of the oil terminal is delayed and the plaintiff is suffering and will continue to suffer substantial and irreparable injury.

Finally, in the complaint, the plaintiff made application to the Maine Court for a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction and a permanent injunction to enjoin the defendants from the continuance of the picketing or the doing of any other acts against the plaintiff to effectuate or accomplish any purpose which might be illegal or against the laws of the State of Maine and for such further relief as the nature of the case might require.

The above allegations of the complaint reveal that there is essentially involved here a controversy affecting interstate commerce within the meaning of the Taft-Hartley Law and this Court so holds.

Section 2(7) of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 152(7), reads as follows: "The term `affecting commerce' means in commerce, or burdening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce, or having led or tending to lead to a labor dispute burdening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce."

An oil terminal is being constructed at 175 Front Street, South Portland, Maine, which is on the waterfront of South Portland and accessible to ocean-going vessels. The terminal will consist of an unloading pier and of several large oil storage tanks. There is a necessary inference from these facts that oil moving in the stream of interstate commerce will be received at this terminal when it is completed. There are other intimate points of contact between this case and interstate commerce. The complaint alleges that the National Labor Relations Board already has taken jurisdiction of the labor relations of Ellis C. Snodgrass, Inc., one...