Ross v. Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int'l

• Decision Date: 14 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. 00-3142,00-3142
• Parties: (3rd Cir. 2001) GEORGE A. ROSS, Appellant v. HOTEL EMPLOYEES AND RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION; ROBERT BAKER, Co-Trustee; CAROL CARLSON, Co-Trustee Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 236

266 F.3d 236 (3rd Cir. 2001)

GEORGE A. ROSS, Appellant v. HOTEL EMPLOYEES AND RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION; ROBERT BAKER, Co-Trustee; CAROL CARLSON, Co-Trustee

No. 00-3142

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

Argued: September 14, 2000

Filed September 17, 2001

Appeal from the Judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Civil Action No. 98-CV-01131 Magistrate Judge: Francis X. Caiazza

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

THOMAS M. CASTELLO, ESQ. (Argued) Plunkett & Cooney, P.C. 3000 USX Tower 600 Grant Street Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Attorney for Appellant

RICHARD L. STOPER, Jr., ESQ. (Argued) SUSAN L. GRAGEL, ESQ. Rotatori, Gragel & Stoper CO., L.P.A. 1040 Leader Building 526 Superior Avenue, East Cleveland, Ohio 44114 Attorneys for Appellees

Before: ROTH, McKEE and RENDELL, Circuit Judges

OPINION OF THE COURT

McKEE, Circuit Judge.

We are asked to review the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union ("HEREIU"), and Robert Baker and Carol Carlson; and against plaintiff George Ross. Ross sued under Title III of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background¹

George Ross is a member of Local 57, a subordinate labor organization of HEREIU. Before January 6, 1998, Ross had been an elected non-salaried member of the Executive Board of that Local as well as an appointed full time salaried employee holding the title of business agent.²

On September 5, 1995, the United States entered into a Consent Decree with HEREIU. The Consent Decree appointed a federal monitor "for the remedial objective of relieving HEREIU and Local 57 from the direct or indirect influence of any organized crime group or the threat of such an influence." App. At 104. Sometime during the summer of 1997, the United States Department of Justice began investigating organized crime's relationship with Local 57. Thereafter, the federal monitor brought charges of corruption involving several officers of Local 57 including Louis Sanfilippo, President; Nancy Davis, Secretary- Treasurer; Vince Fera, Recording Secretary; and Louis Masco, a union member.

At the same time this investigation was proceeding, a power struggle erupted between Local 57's "power base" and three of the other officers of the Local: Ross, Nassan and Brown.³ Ross and Brown were then business agents of Local 57, and Nassan was a general organizer. According to Ross, the power struggle progressed to the point that the Local's Executive Secretary, Nancy Davis,⁴ asked the International to assume control of Local 57 by establishing a trusteeship.

In November of 1997, the federal monitor also requested that a trusteeship be established based on the charges brought against the officers of Local 57. Eventually, Robert Baker was appointed as the first of two Trustees who assumed control of Local 57.⁵ On the same day he was appointed, Baker fired Nassan, Ross and Brown; and Sanfilippo resigned. However, Nassan, Ross and Brown were rehired within 24 hours of their firing after complaining to the monitor.

An election for officers of Local 57 was scheduled for March 1998, but the Trustees canceled the election, and suspended the Local's constitution and by-laws. In April of 1998, Ross, Nassan and Brown filed the first of two lawsuits challenging HEREIU's right to impose a trusteeship. They named HEREIU and the two Trustees as defendants (the "Trusteeship case"). The plaintiffs asserted that, "[g]iven the resignation of Sanfilippo and the failure of HEREIU or the Trustees to suspend Nancy Ross, it is clear that the continuation of the Trusteeship is improper and therefore must be dissolved." Ross' Complaint at P 26 (No. 98-629). The plaintiffs sought declaratory and equitable relief under Title III of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (the "LMRDA") which governs the creation and maintenance of trusteeships by labor organizations. See 73 Stat. 519 SS 301-01 (1959), 29 U.S.C. SS 461-66 (1998 & Supp. 2000) The prayer for relief included a request that the court dissolve the Trusteeship, reinstate the constitution and by-laws of Local 57, and order immediate elections. The plaintiffs also moved for a TRO to enjoin the Trustees from running Local 57's operations. That motion was denied. At the end of April, Nassan and Brown withdrew from the lawsuit, leaving Ross as the only plaintiff.⁶

During the summer of 1998, the Trustees decided to hold new elections and terminate the Trusteeship. They also issued new election guidelines under which Ross became ineligible to run for office because his union dues were delinquent. Ross argues that these guidelines were specifically intended to remove him as an eligible candidate.⁷ In addition to the new election guidelines, the Trustees also "proposed a new Constitution which terminated George Ross' position as full time salaried business agent." Ross' Amended Complaint at P 38 (No. 98-629).

In July of 1998, Ross filed a second lawsuit against the same defendants in state court (the "election case"). Ross sought a declaration that he was an eligible candidate for the upcoming election, and an injunction to prevent the election from proceeding until his eligibility could be determined. That suit was removed to federal court on motion of the defendants, and the district court thereafter refused to enjoin the election. Ross was not permitted to run for office because of the aforementioned eligibility restrictions. On the day of the election, Ross, Nassan and Brown received letters terminating their employment as business agents. As a result of the election, Nassan was elected president and principle officer. After the swearing in of the new officers of the union, the Trusteeship was dissolved. Ross was not re-appointed as a business agent by the newly elected officers.

In December of 1998, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment in the Trusteeship case. They argued that Ross' claim for equitable relief had been rendered moot by the election of new officers and the resulting dissolution of the Trusteeship. Ross answered arguing that the crux of the Trusteeship case was that the Trusteeship had been imposed in bad faith to remove political opposition. He insisted that all actions carried out pursuant to the Trusteeship were void. In February of 1999, Ross filed an amended complaint in the Trusteeship case alleging continuing harm and asking the district court to:

Void the following actions taken in conjunction with that Trusteeship:

i. The suspension of the Local By-Laws and Constitution;

ii. The firing of the Plaintiff, George Ross on January 6, 1998;

iii. The imposition of the new eligibility requirements to run for elected office intended to exclude George Ross as a candidate for the July, 1998 elections;

iv. The firing of George Ross on August 10, 1998.

Ross' Amended Complaint, P 9 (No. 98-629). He also requested temporary reinstatement, scheduling of new elections, monetary damages, counsel fees, and costs.

The district court consolidated Ross' two lawsuits and the matter was scheduled for trial. Essentially, Ross contended that he was harmed in two respects as a result of the improper continuation of the Trusteeship. He alleged that he had suffered damages as a result of being declared ineligible to run for office in the August 1998 elections. He also alleged damages as a result of the termination of his appointed position as a business agent. Prior to trial, the defendants filed a motion in limine seeking to exclude evidence or argument regarding Ross' purportedly improper exclusion from the August election. The court denied that motion but did enter an order precluding Ross from "seek[ing] any relief which would effect a change in the union election." Ross v. Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Int'l Union, No. 98-1131, slip. op. at 9 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 4, 1999).

After both sides rested in the ensuing trial, the jury reported that it was deadlocked and the court declared a mistrial. However, before the scheduled retrial was to begin, the defendants moved for summary judgment on all of Ross' claims. The defendants argued that Ross was precluded from asserting an individual claim for monetary damages under Title III of the LMRDA. Ross opposed the motion by relying solely on the law of the case doctrine. He contended that the court had already implicitly decided that an individual could sue for damages under Title III because the court sent the damage suit to the jury in the first trial.

The district court rejected Ross' law of the case argument stating: "the issue of whether Title III supports Ross's individual requests for relief has not yet been adjudicated by the Court." Ross v. Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Int'l Union, No. 98-1131 slip. op. at 12 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 12, 2000). The court noted that Ross had not asserted a timeliness challenge, and concluded that it had broad discretion to entertain the defendants' motion for summary judgment even though the issues had been submitted to a jury. Id. at 6 (citing In re Sch. Asbestos Litig., 977 F.2d 764, 794 (3d Cir. 1992)). The court ultimately held that interests of judicial economy counseled in favor of adjudicating the summary judgment motion and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants and against Ross.

In doing so, the court relied on the text and legislative history of the LMRDA as well as relevant precedent from other circuit courts of appeals. The court held that Ross' claims were all individual in nature and that Title III of the LMRDA does not allow plaintiffs to seek individual relief. Id. at 12-13, 16-17. Rather, the district court concluded that Title III was intended to protect local unions, not their individual members. Id. at 14. The court relied in large part upon Gesink v. Grand...