Schauffler v. UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN, ETC.
| Decision Date | 01 August 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 12160.,12160. |
| Citation | 246 F.2d 867 |
| Parties | Bennet F. SCHAUFFLER, Regional Director of the Fourth Region of the National Labor Relations Board for and on Behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN & APPRENTICES OF PLUMBING and PIPE FITTING INDUSTRY OF UNITED STATES and CANADA, LOCAL 420, AFL; Al McHenry, Its Business Manager; and John Small, Its Business Agent, Respondents-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Richard H. Markowitz, Philadelphia, Pa. (Louis H. Wilderman, Paula R. Markowitz, Philadelphia, Pa., on the briefs), for appellants.
Winthrop A. Johns (N.L.R.B.), Washington, D. C. (Jerome D. Fenton, General Counsel, Washington, D. C., Stephen Leonard, Washington, D. C., Associate General Counsel, William A. Kapell, Washington, D. C., Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, on the brief), for appellee.
Before STALEY and HASTIE, Circuit Judges, and SORG, District Judge.
Occasionally a litigant will request the court to overturn an apparently well-settled principle of law which he finds as an insurmountable barrier in the path of the proposition he seeks to have established. This is such a case. Appellants argue that the district court abused its discretion by allowing as costs in a civil contempt proceeding the expenses incurred by the National Labor Relations Board in connection with the prosecution of appellants for civil contempt, including salaries, travel expenses, and costs of investigation, preparation, presentation, and final disposition of the proceedings — and this argument is made in the face of our decision in N. L. R. B. v. Star Metal Mfg. Co., 3 Cir., 1951, 187 F. 2d 856, holding that just such expenses of the Board are properly taxable as costs.
These contempt proceedings arise from the following factual background. Upon petition by the National Labor Relations Board, the district court on May 5, 1954, enjoined Local 420 from engaging in certain work stoppages in violation of Section 8(b) (4) (D) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b) (4) (D). The injunction order was affirmed by this court on January 10, 1955. 3 Cir., 218 F.2d 476. Thereafter, on June 15, 1955, the district court adjudged appellants in civil and criminal contempt for engaging in work stoppages in willful disregard of the original injunction order. On March 6, 1956, this court affirmed the action of the district court. 3 Cir., 230 F.2d 572. The Supreme Court denied appellants' petition for certiorari on October 8, 1956. 352 U.S. 825, 77 S.Ct. 37, 1 L.Ed.2d 48.
After the denial of certiorari, the district court rendered its decision granting the costs claimed by the Board. D.C. E.D.Pa.1956, 148 F.Supp. 704, 706. This appeal was taken from the order entered pursuant to that decision and assessing the following items as costs:
"1. Reporter's charge for
copy of transcript of testimony
adduced at trial
before the District
Court, which was required
in connection
with respondents' appeal
from the contempt adjudication $ 166.80
"2. Cost of printing brief
on appeal 160.22
"3. Amount of salaries for
time spent by Board attorneys
from Washington
D. C
"(A) William W. Kapell
"(1) per diem and
fares incurred in traveling
to and working
in Philadelphia 232.29
"(2) salary for 20
days spent in working
on case at $37 per
day 740.00
"(B) Winthrop A. Johns
"(1) per diem and
fares incurred in traveling
to Philadelphia
to argue appeal 30.02
"(2) time spent on
appeal, argument
thereof, and opposition
to motion for rehearing
5 days at
$47.76 per day 238.80
"4. Time spent by attorneys
and investigators of the
Philadelphia Regional
Office in preparing the
contempt case for hearing
"(A) Leonard Leventhal
field attorney
investigation and
preparation for
trial, attendance at
trial and conferences,
90 hours at
$3.07 per hour 276.30
"(B) Alan Zurlnick,
field examiner, investigation
and conferences,
40 hours at
$3.64 per hour 145.60
"(C) Herbert B. Mintz,
field attorney, investigation,
2 hours at
$3.07 per hour 6.14
__________
"TOTAL $1,996.17"
The costs assessed have all been attacked by appellants as improper and outside the discretion of the district court to impose. It is true that most of the items assessed are not the usual taxable costs. Traditionally, however, "the historic practice of granting reimbursement for the costs of litigation other than the conventional taxable costs is part of the original authority of the chancellor to do equity in a particular situation." Sprague v. Ticonic Bank, 1939, 307 U.S. 161, 166, 59 S.Ct. 777, 780, 83 L.Ed. 1184. Compensatory impositions in civil contempt proceedings have long been sanctioned by the Supreme Court. Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co., 1911, 221 U.S. 418, 447, 31 S.Ct. 492, 55 L.Ed. 797. See also United States v. United Mine Workers, 1947, 330 U.S. 258, 303, 304, 67 S.Ct. 677, 91 L.Ed. 884.
Precisely in point with the present case is the holding of this court in N. L. R. B. v. Star Metal Mfg. Co., 1951, 187 F.2d at page 857, that those in contempt of an injunction should pay to the Nation Labor Relations Board a sum which "represents expenses necessarily incurred by the Board in connection with the prosecution of the petition in civil...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Maier Brewing Company v. Fleischmann Distilling Corp.
...Confectionery Workers v. Ratner, supra; Rolax v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 4 Cir., 1951, 186 F.2d 473; Schauffler v. United Association of Journeymen, etc., 3 Cir., 1957, 246 F.2d 867. In two cases it has been cited when the court disallowed claimed items of costs not provided for by stat......
-
Village of Lakemoor v. First Bank of Oak Park, 1748
...(7th Cir.1966), 367 F.2d 771, cert. denied (1967), 386 U.S. 959, 87 S.Ct. 1029, 18 L.Ed.2d 108. Contra, Schauffler v. United Association of Journeymen (3rd Cir.1957), 246 F.2d 867.) It appears from the present record and this court's prior opinion in this cause, that the Village did not req......
-
Ranco Indus. Products Corp. v. Dunlap
...for the prosecution of a willful civil contempt. Lichtenstein v. Lichtenstein, 425 F.2d 1111 (3d Cir.1970); Schauffler v. United Ass'n. of Journeymen, 246 F.2d 867 (3d Cir.1957). See also Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Soc., 421 U.S. 240, 258, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 1622, 44 L.Ed.2d 141......
-
Federal Savings & Loan Ins. Corporation v. Szarabajka
...United Association of Journeymen & Apprentices of Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, 148 F.Supp. 704, 708 (E.D.Pa.1956), aff'd, 246 F.2d 867 (3d Cir. 1957). Plaintiff succeeded in proving its case under both counts of the complaint, and indeed, it proved liability for both the Riverwoods a......