Sanders v. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, ETC.

• Decision Date: 13 July 1956
• Docket Number: No. 12617-12621.,12617-12621.
• Parties: W. B. SANDERS, Etc., Appellant, v. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL & ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS et al., Appellees. Charles HOBBS, Etc., et al., Cross-Appellants, v. W. B. SANDERS, Cross-Appellee. LOCAL UNION 595, Etc., et al., Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL & ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS, et al., Appellees. Wilford B. SANDERS et al., Appellants, v. John H. LYONS, Etc., et al., Appellees. John H. LYONS, Etc., et al., Cross-Appellants, v. Wilford B. SANDERS, Cross-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

235 F.2d 271 (1956)

W. B. SANDERS, Etc., Appellant, v. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL & ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS et al., Appellees.

Charles HOBBS, Etc., et al., Cross-Appellants, v. W. B. SANDERS, Cross-Appellee.

LOCAL UNION 595, Etc., et al., Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL & ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS, et al., Appellees.

Wilford B. SANDERS et al., Appellants, v. John H. LYONS, Etc., et al., Appellees.

John H. LYONS, Etc., et al., Cross-Appellants, v. Wilford B. SANDERS, Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 12617-12621.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

July 13, 1956.

Roy N. Vance, Paducah, Ky. (Joseph J. Grace, Andrew J. Palmer, Paducah, Ky., on the brief), for W. B. Sanders, et al.

Francis T. Goheen, Paducah, Ky. (Mahlon R. Shelbourne, Joseph S. Freeland, Paducah, Ky., on the brief), for International Ass'n et al.

Before SIMONS, Chief Judge, and ALLEN and McALLISTER, Circuit Judges.

McALLISTER, Circuit Judge.

The above cases, which included cross appeals, were consolidated for trial, and judgments were entered in accordance with the opinion of the district court, reported in 130 F.Supp. 253. From such judgments, all parties appeal.

The statement of facts and the basis for the trial court's determination appear in the comprehensive opinion above referred to. Therein, the district court held, among other matters, that the individual appellants had been given proper hearings and trials, in accordance with the constitution of the International Union by which the Local and appellant members were governed; that the charges against them were justified; that the findings were lawful; and that disciplinary action was proper. The court also found that the debarment of old Local officers from union offices and activities for specified periods, as well as the placing of the Local under direct International supervision, were legal and valid. Nevertheless, the court held that the sentence imposed by the governing body of the union, expelling one of the appellants for life, was, in view of its effect upon his means of obtaining livelihood, unreasonable and unlawful.

We concur in the determination of the district court, except as to its holding that the expulsion of appellant Sanders was not a reasonable exercise of the authority of the General Executive Board, and that such action was, therefore, unlawful and must be set aside. The findings of the General Executive Board of the serious nature of the charges and Sanders' flagrant violation of the provisions of the International constitution were proper and sustained by the evidence, according to the findings of the district court. As the court stated, the evidence showed that "Sanders was guilty of the charges made against him; that his conduct had stopped a part of the Atomic Energy Program and paralyzed one of the most important construction projects in the United States; that his violations continued long after the charges were made and...