Sheridan v. UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS, ETC.

Citation191 F. Supp. 347
Decision Date14 February 1961
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 2281.
PartiesPaul J. SHERIDAN v. UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS, LOCAL 626.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Delaware

Joseph T. Walsh, Wilmington, Del., for plaintiff.

Joseph Donald Craven, Wilmington, Del., for defendant.

EDWIN D. STEEL, Jr., District Judge.

The Court: The plaintiff Sheridan, who has been suspended as a member of and removed from the office of business agent of the defendant union, has sued to be reinstated in office and for back pay and employment benefits. In the interim, plaintiff has moved for a temporary restraining order to enjoin the holding of a meeting of the union membership called for 3:00 p. m. on January 6, 1961, for the purpose of electing a temporary business agent to act while the validity of plaintiff's removal from office can be finally determined. The motion will be granted for the following reasons:

The validity of the election depends upon whether Sheridan was rightly removed from office as business agent. If he was not then no valid election can be held. Upon the record before me it appears reasonably probable that Sheridan will ultimately succeed in establishing that he was improperly removed from office. I say this for the following reasons:

Sheridan's removal appears to have been based primarily on the fact that he successfully prosecuted in the Municipal Court one Burke, a fellow member of Local 626, for an assault and battery which Burke committed upon Sheridan on union property. The disciplinary action of the union in removing Sheridan from office followed. This action was in contravention of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, more specifically 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 411(a) (4) and 529. The latter section provides:

"It shall be unlawful for any labor organization * * * to * * discipline any of its members for exercising any right to which he is entitled under the provisions of this chapter."

Section 411(a) (4) vouchsafes to a member of a labor organization the right to institute an action in any court. It states:

"No labor organization shall limit the right of any member thereof to institute an action in any court, * * *"

In causing an action to be instituted against Burke, Sheridan exercised a right which was guaranteed to him by Section 411(a) (4); yet because of his action he was removed from office as business agent, thus the plain terms of Section 529 were violated.

On December 7, 1960, Sheridan, as a member of the union, was subject to a suspension order. Accordingly, he was not eligible to be nominated to the office of temporary business agent when the nomination for that office took place. Sheridan had been apparently suspended as a member of the defendant because of his prosecution of Burke in the Municipal Court. Here, again, disciplinary action was taken against Sheridan by the union in derogation of 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 411(a) (4) and 529.

The most serious question at the present time is whether the instant action is premature. While Section 411(a) (4) prohibits a labor organization from limiting the right of a member from instituting action in any court, a proviso in that same section states that:

"Any such member may be required to exhaust reasonable hearing procedures (but not to exceed a 4-month lapse of time) within such organization, before instituting legal * * * proceedings against such organizations or any officers thereof."

The union contends that Sheridan was required to exhaust hearing procedures available to him within the union before instituting the present action, and bases its contention on Section 56(A) of the union Constitution and By-laws which provide:

"A member must exhaust all resources allowed by the Constitution and Laws of the United Brotherhood before taking a case to the civil courts."

The union grievance procedure provided in the union Constitution and Bylaws insofar as it relates to the Sheridan-Burke controversy contemplates the following steps:

First, the filing of charges.

Second, the trial of the charges before a trial committee.

Third, an appeal to the General President within 30 days from an adverse decision by the trial committee.

Fourth, an appeal to the Executive Board within 30 days from an adverse decision by the General President.

Fifth, a final appeal to the General Convention within 30 days from any adverse decision by the Executive Board.

Not until all of these steps have been taken can a member be said to have exhausted all resources allowed by the Constitution and Laws as Section 56(A) requires. The Constitution and Laws fix no time limit for the rendition of a decision by either the trial committee or by any of the appellate bodies. The General Convention, which has final appellate jurisdiction, meets only every four years.

Burke filed two charges against Sheridan on October 5, 1960. The first was that Sheridan in derogation of Section 43(1) of the union's Constitution and Laws, committed a willful act by which the reputation of a fellow member, Burke, was injured or his employment jeopardized. The reference was obviously to the action which Sheridan caused to be brought in the Municipal Court. The second charge was that in violation of Section 56(A) of the union's Constitution and Laws Sheridan failed to exhaust all grievance resources allowed by the Constitution and Laws before proceeding in the Municipal Court against Burke. This contention was obviously unsound. Section 411(a) (4) authorizes a union to require a member to exhaust reasonable hearing procedures only before instituting legal proceedings against a labor organization or an officer thereof. The action in the Municipal Court was not against a labor organization or an officer thereof, but simply against a member. Accordingly, there is nothing in Section 411(a) (4) or any other portion of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 which would authorize the union to adopt a provision requiring Sheridan to exhaust resources within the union before prosecuting Burke in the Municipal Court. Furthermore, Section 56(A) of the Constitution and Laws of the union requires a member to exhaust union resources only as a condition to taking a case to the "civil courts." Jurisdiction of the Municipal Court in entertaining the assault and battery charge against Burke was not civil in nature.

On November 2, 1960, the trial committee sustained Burke's charges, found Sheridan guilty as charged, and removed him from office. On November 9, 1960, Sheridan appealed. The appeal was heard on November 30th by Rawleigh Rajoppi, the union President's designee to determine the appeal. No decision has been forthcoming from Rajoppi, although on December 8, 1960, he advised Walsh, Sheridan's attorney, that a decision on the appeal would be made in a few days.

From the foregoing it is apparent that although Sheridan has done everything within his power to exhaust the grievance procedures provided by the Constitution and Laws, Rajoppi's inaction in deciding the appeal and the very nature of the appellate procedure itself, involving as it does the successive steps which I have enumerated, have precluded Sheridan from exhausting the grievance procedures prior to the time when the election will be held.

The union argues that Sheridan has failed to validly appeal the decision from the trial committee because he has neglected to make an affidavit "as to the truth of (his) written or printed statements" as required by Section 57(G) of the Constitution and Laws. It is true that the notice of the appeal dated November 9th is not verified, but Section 57(G) does not in terms state that the notice of appeal has to be verified, and there is nothing before me to indicate that to the extent that a verification is required in connection with an appeal it has not been supplied. It is noteworthy that the union itself has treated the appeal as valid. Rajoppi, the appeal officer, heard evidence on the appeal, and he assured Walsh a decision would be forthcoming. In the light of this evidence I cannot find that the action taken by Sheridan in connection with the appeal was fatally infirm.

Now, it is to be noted that although Section 411(a) (4) authorizes a union to require a member to exhaust hearing procedures (not to exceed a 4-month lapse of time) before instituting an action in any court, the hearing procedures must be "reasonable". That is what the statute says. Here, with Sheridan's appeal undecided by Rajoppi, it is obvious that Sheridan cannot possibly exhaust the procedures provided by the union prior to the time when the election is to take place on January 6, 1961. In the circumstances the hearing procedures are unreasonable. If their existence is permitted to bar the institution of this action Sheridan would find himself without a remedy either within the union or before a judicial tribunal prior to the time when the election is held.

Under somewhat comparable circumstances in Johnson v. Local Union No. 58, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, D.C.E.D.Mich.1960, 181 F. Supp. 734, it was held that the hearing procedure provided by the union was unreasonable and hence ineffective to bar the institution of civil litigation.

Accordingly, I find that Section 56(A) of the Constitution and Laws which requires a member to exhaust all resources within the union before taking a case to the civil courts is invalid in its application to the instant case as being unreasonable in its operation.

In summary, it appears to be reasonably probable that plaintiff was wrongfully removed from office as business agent of the defendant, and hence that the election about to be held will be invalid; that plaintiff was wrongfully suspended as a member of the defendant and hence if the election could be validly held plaintiff has been wrongfully deprived of his right to be nominated for election; and that for these reasons unless a...

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    • January 23, 1963
    ...291 N.Y. 81, 50 N.E.2d 552, modified according to mandate, 182 Misc. 264, 44 N.Y.S.2d 402 (1943). 38 See Sheridan v. United Bhd. of Carpenters, 191 F.Supp. 347, 351-352; 194 F.Supp. 664 (D.Del.1961), rev'd on other grounds, 306 F.2d 152 (3d 39 We reject the suggestion of the defendant that ......
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