Sizemore v. Maroney, AFL-CIO

• Decision Date: 25 November 1964
• Docket Number: AFL-CIO,No. 390,390
• Citation: 263 N.C. 14,138 S.E.2d 803
• Parties: , 51 Lab.Cas. P 51,235 Ray E. SIZEMORE v. D. V. MARONEY and Division 1493 of the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America,
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 803

138 S.E.2d 803

263 N.C. 14, 51 Lab.Cas. P 51,235

Ray E. SIZEMORE v. D. V. MARONEY and Division 1493 of the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, AFL-CIO.

No. 390.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Nov. 25, 1964.

Hatfield & Allman by Roy G. Hall, Jr., Winston-Salem, for plaintiff appellant.

White, Crumpler, Powell, Pfefferkorn & Green by James G. White, Winston-Salem, for defendant appellees.

PARKER, Justice.

The complaint alleges in substance: Plaintiff is a citizen and resident of Stokes County, North Carolina. The defendant union is an unincorporated association, which maintains an office and transacts business in Forsyth County, North Carolina; that it has not designated of record in the office of the clerk of the superior court of Forsyth County a registered agent upon whom service of process may be had, and consequently it is amenable to service of process under the provisions of G.S. § 1-69.1. Defendant Maroney is a citizen and resident of Kanawha County, West Virginia, and was at all times referred to in the complaint, and at the time of the commencement of this action still is, the president of defendant union, and all of his conduct hereinafter described was in the course and scope of his employment by defendant union as its president.

In March 1962 plaintiff, by reason of a groundless complaint filed against him by a citizen of Charleston, West Virginia, was dismissed from his employment with the Greyhound Bus Company, with which company he had been continuously employed as a driver for almost twenty years. He was never given an opportunity for a hearing, and was never confronted by or given the right to confront the person who filed the complaint against him. At the time he was a dues-paying member in good standing of defendant union. A part of the duties of defendant union was to protect him and others similarily situated in such instances, but despite the duties imposed upon the defendant union by its constitution and bylaws and by the applicable provisions of the federal 'Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959,' respecting rights of individual union members, the union, under the direction and leadership and influence of defendant Maroney, failed to protect him and to give him his rights of appeal and grievance.

He requested a hearing by the union but he was foreclosed by defendant Maroney and by the defendant union from asserting his rights. In the course of such denial of his rights, defendant Maroney on 22 June 1962 prepared and mailed to all the executive board members of the defendant union a letter containing words that were libelous per se, said words accusing him of immoral conduct. The charges, allusions, insinuations and threats contained in the letter were without foundation and were made maliciously, wantonly, and knowingly, and were published by defendant Maroney acting as president of the defendant union and subject to the control of the members of its executive board and on the letterhead of said defendant union, without any semblance of justification. Then follows allegations in respect to damages.

Defendant Maroney made a special appearance and moved to dismiss the action as to him for the following reasons: He is a citizen and resident of West Virginia. No summons has been served on him within the State of North Carolina. The Secretary of State of North Carolina is not his agent, and he has never designated him as any process agent for him. No legal process has been had on him by plaintiff's having the said Secretary of State to forward to him at his residence in West Virginia a copy of the summons herein, an extension of time for filing the complaint, and later a copy of the complaint.

Defendant association made a special appearance and moved to quash the summons served upon it for the following reasons: It is an unincorporated association, has no property, and is not doing business in the State of North Carolina. It has never designated the Secretary of State of North Carolina as its process agent. No summons has been served upon it in this State. The cause of action which plaintiff alleges does not arise on any matters occurring within the State of North Carolina, but arises entirely from matters which the plaintiff alleges constitute a libel arising in the State of West Virginia. The attempted service of process upon it by having the said Secretary of State to mail to it at its office in West Virginia a copy of the summons and extension of time for filing complaint is a nullity, and does not amount to service of process.

The plaintiff filed an answer to the special appearance and motion to dismiss filed by defendant Maroney, in which he alleges in substance: The defendant association is unincorporated, and is doing business in the State of North Carolina for the purpose for which it was formed, to wit, representing as a labor union employees of a business in the State of North Carolina. It has failed to comply with the requirements of G.S. § 1-97(6), in that it has failed to appoint an agent in this State upon whom process may be served, and has failed to certify to the clerk of the superior court of Forsyth County, in which county the organization is actually doing business, the name and address of a process agent. By failing to appoint a process agent, this plaintiff is authorized by the language of the statute to serve process upon the Secretary of State of North Carolina, which in fact he has done as set out in defendant's own motion to dismiss. Defendant association is and has been for the past several years actively doing business in the State of North Carolina; it represents employees of the Greyhound Bus Company; it maintains a regular business agent and other officials in Winston-.salem, with whom it transacts the organization's business. He has not endeavored to serve process upon defendant Maroney through the Secretary of State of North Carolina, but instead has endeavored to serve him personally, since the provisions of G.S. § 1-97(6) do not apply to service upon an individual. The sheriff of Forsyth County has been unable to locate defendant Maroney, and he has kept process alive by the issuance of alias and pluries summonses.

There is one affidavit in the record which was filed by plaintiff on 22 January 1964. This is a summary of this affidavit, except when quoted: 'Division 1493 union operates in several states as Division 1493. Most of the employees of the Greyhound Bus Company in Winston-Salem belong to this union, as do most of the employees at terminals in the other states served by Division 1493, including Charleston, West Virginia; Jacksonville, Florida; Portsmouth, Ohio; Columbia, South Carolina; Asheville and Raleigh, North Carolina; Roanoke, Virginia; et cetera. All of these employees in these various cities and states belong to Division 1493 of the union. This division is not broken into separate locals, as is the case with some affiliated groups of national unions. Division 1493 of union conducts substantial business in North Carolina and particularly in Winston-Salem. It conducts almost all of the business for which a union exists. It solicits membership. It holds meetings and rents a union hall for such purposes.' It has a regular employee, Roy Gough, who is paid by the union and who looks after all the union's affairs in Winston-Salem, in addition to his work with the Greyhound Bus Company. Gough is a board member of Division 1493, and participates in negotiations regarding drivers' contracts in connection with local division members. Division 1493 conducts grievance hearings in Winston-Salem, which are connected with the operation of the union and its conduct with respect to its members. All of the Winston-Salem members of the union are subject to all of the constitutional and by-law regulations of Division 1493, and these are applied and enforced in Winston-Salem by union officials. The union has a steward in Winston-Salem, a Mr. Collette, and also a Mr. Orrell, and these officials perform and have performed regularly business in the union's behalf, and continue to represent union interests.

The motions by the defendants first came on to be heard by the clerk of the superior court of Forsyth County on 24 February 1964. He entered two separate orders: One on Maroney's motion, and the other on the motion of the defendant association. The order entered on defendant Maroney's motion states in substance: The court heard arguments of counsel and examined the record in the case. It appears that this action was instituted on 29 May 1963, that original summons was issued on the same date and returned without having been served on defendant Maroney; that the chain of summonses as to Maroney has been kept up by the issuance of alias and pluries summonses, and that the time for issuing another pluries summons for Maroney has not expired. It is, therefore, ordered that defendant Maroney's motion to dismiss the action as to him be denied.

The order entered on defendant association's motion states in substance: It appears from a statement filed by counsel for plaintiff that on the date this action was instituted on 29 May 1963 the records in the office of the clerk of the superior court of Forsyth County indicate that the defendant union has failed to comply with the requirements of G.S. § 1-97(6), in that it has failed to appoint an agent in this State upon whom process may be served, and has failed to certify to the office of the clerk of the superior court of Forsyth County the name and address of...