Pulliam v. Bond, 51124

• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: STORCKMAN
• Citation: Pulliam v. Bond, 406 S.W.2d 635 (Mo. 1966)
• Decision Date: 12 September 1966
• Docket Number: No. 2,No. 51124,51124,2
• Parties: 63 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2127, 54 Lab.Cas. P 51,553 J. M. PULLIAM, Respondent, v. W. H. BOND, Henry C. Chatterson, and R. A. Johnson, Appellants

Page 635

406 S.W.2d 635

63 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2127, 54 Lab.Cas. P 51,553

J. M. PULLIAM, Respondent, v. W. H. BOND, Henry C. Chatterson, and R. A. Johnson, Appellants.

No. 51124.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

Sept. 12, 1966.

Motion for Rehearing or to Transfer to Court En Banc Denied

Oct. 10, 1966.

Thaine Q. Blumer, Blumer & Wright, Kansas City, for respondent.

Gray & Sommers, Charles E. Gray, St. Louis, Jack C. Terry, Kansas City, for appellants.

STORCKMAN, Judge.

This is an action for libel wherein the jury returned a verdict for plaintiff for $30,000 actual damages and for punitive damages aggregating $20,000 against three defendants. Motions for new trial were overruled on the condition that $15,000 be remitted from the actual damages. The plaintiff remitted accordingly and a judgment was entered for $15,000 actual damages and $20,000 punitive damages. The defendants appealed from the judgment so rendered.

The plaintiff and the defendants were all members of the Executive Committee of the Joint Protective Board Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America on the Missouri Pacific System and Allied Lines. The claim of libel is based on a written statement charging the plaintiff with misconduct in his official capacity. The statement of charges was prepared, signed and filed by a majority of the Executive Committee as provided by the rules and bylaws of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood of Railway Carmen consists of a Grand Lodge and various subordinate or local lodges. The Joint Protective Board, sometimes referred to as the Board, consists of the duly elected Local Protective Board chairmen from each of the participating lodges. The officers of this Joint Board are the chairman, first vice-chairman, second vice-chairman, and the secretary-treasurer, who with three other elected members constitute the Executive Committee of seven members. The defendant Bond was chairman, the plaintiff was first vice-chairman, and the defendant Chatterson was secretary-treasurer of the Joint Protective Board and, as such, they were members of the Executive Committee. Other defendnats were elected members of the Executive Committee. The offices on the Joint Board held by Mr. Bond and Mr. Pulliam are sometimes referred to in the transcript and exhibits as the General Chairman and the Vice-General Chairman, respectively, but for brevity at least we will generally refer to them as chairman and vice-chairman.

Among other duties the chairman of the Joint Board has general direction of local chairmen in their work; he was required to attend all legitimate calls from local lodges for advice, consulation or adjustment of grievances and disputes. The chairman had authority to deputize any other member of the Executive Committee to assist him in performing his duties when necessary. Among the duties specified by the bylaws and rules of the Joint Protective Board, the first vice-chairman was required to perform such duties as were assigned to him by the chairman of the Board. Generally the officers on behalf of the Board were required to discharge such duties as may be imposed upon them by law including the making of reports to federal or state authorities and the maintaining and keeping of records as required by law.

The vice-chairman or any member of the Executive Committee of the Joint Protective Board when working under the direction of the chairman was entitled to receive a monthly salary and an allowance for expenses 'while away from home point'. When any member was engaged less than a month, he was entitled to receive salary 'based on the days worked'. The monthly salary was $650 and the daily salary was $21.67; the expense allowance was $20 per day. Expense accounts were required to be itemized and approved by the chairman before payment. The Executive Committee was required to examine and approve or reject expenditures referred to them by the chairman. It was further provided that money and property of the Board should be used only for the benefit of the Board and such purposes permitted or required by the constitution of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen and not for the personal gain or profit of any officer or member. The officers were to be held to this standard of conduct and accountable for any breach thereof.

The plaintiff, a resident of North Little Rock, Arkansas, had been a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen for about 20 years. He was elected vice-chairman of the Joint Protective Board at the biennial convention in May 1959 and thereby became a member of the Executive Committee. As vice-chairman the plaintiff represented members of the Brotherhood in disputes and grievances with the Company. He got his assignments from chairman Bond who was a full-time employee of the Board with offices in St. Louis. The plaintiff was regularly employed by the railroad as a car inspector. For his part-time work for the Joint Protective Board, he was paid the daily rate of $21.67 and when he was away from his 'home point' he was also entitled to the expense allowance of $20 per day. The plaintiff, like other officers of the Joint Protective Board, had a pass on the Missouri Pacific Railroad which he was supposed to use for transportation when he was on business for the Board. Travel by private automobile was not ordinarily authorized because free transportation was available on the railroad and the Brotherhood might be exposed to liability in case of an automobile accident while the representative was so traveling.

The transcript of the record consists of 681 pages so the minutiae will be omitted and further essential evidence will be related and discussed in connection with disposition of the questions presented. For the present, it is sufficient to say that the evidence tends to show that chairman Bond began to encounter difficulties with the plaintiff's expense accounts early in 1960. The plaintiff's expense accounts were sent in duplicate to chairman Bond whose duty it was to approve them before they were sent to Mr. Chatterson in Kansas City for payment.

At an Executive Committee meeting held the latter part of October 1960, the plaintiff's expense accounts and activities were the subject of extensive discussion. This was the first meeting attended by the defendant R. A. Johnson who was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Committee. On October 28 the Executive Committee went over practically all of the plaintiff's expense accounts for 1960 beginning with the month of February 1960. This part of the meeting at least was taken in question and answer form and was made a part of the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee. The evidence shows that charges had been filed against chairman Bond for 'mal-function of the duties' of his office and that he had been tried and cleared of these charges on October 3 and 4, 1960. At the October meeting Mr. Bond announced to the other members of the Executive Committee that he had had to become exceedingly careful to what he signed his name and he was going to be very careful in the future; that, 'Some people have taken advantage of us and it is going to stop.' Before approving the plaintiff's expense accounts for April and May 1960, chairman Bond had discovered erros and charges which he rejected and, at the chairman's request, the statements were corrected by the plaintiff and resubmitted. At this Executive Committee meeting it was asserted that the plaintiff had made several unauthorized trips, two of which were admitted by the plaintiff. It was further asserted that the plaintiff had used his automobile on trips without authorization; that in one instance he had traveled by airplane without approval or disclosure, and that the plaintiff had 'walked out of' an investigation in Omaha which resulted in criticism and embarrassment to the chairman and necessitated setting up another investigation at a cost ot the Joint Board of about $800. At one point in the Executive Committee meeting, the plaintiff asked if any charges had been preferred against him and when he was given a negative answer, he stated, 'Then I won't answer any more questions--I want no questions asked me.' At the conclusion of the discussion, the plaintiff was admonished by the chairman just to carry out his assignments in the future and not to use his automobile unless authorized.

After the Executive Committee meeting was concluded, the members of the Committee, other than the plaintiff, asked chairman Bond to investigate further and report to them. On January 28, 1961, the members of the Executive Committee, other than Mr. Bond and Mr. Pulliam, signed a statement charging the plaintiff with violation of the Grand Lodge Constitution in that he made unauthorized trips to points on the railroad in the capacity of vice-general chairman, that he charged the Board with pay for trips away from his home point when he was under pay from the carrier at his home point, and that he was guilty of breach of conduct by abstracting funds for personal gain as set out in the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held October 26, 1960. This statement bore the notation that it should be submitted to the Board's attorneys for approval.

The statement of charges as revised by the attorneys is the basis of the libel action. It is dated February 17, 1961, and signed by Executive Board members George Franklin, R. A. Johnson, W. H. Smith, H. C. Chatterson and W. W. Waters. It is addressed to H. C. Chatterson, Secretary-Treasurer, Missouri Pacific Joint Proctective Board, and reads as follows:

'The majority of the Executive Committee of the Missouri Pacific Joint Protective Board hereby charge Mr. James M. Pulliam, Vice-General Chairman, Missouri Pacific Joint Protective Board and Local Chairman, Harmony Lodge No. 114, Little Rock, Arkansas, with malfeasance of office in that he made numerous unauthorized trips to points on the railroad in the capacity of Vice-General Chairman without authorization to do so. Mr....