United Food & Com. Local 911 v. United Food & Com.

Decision Date31 October 2000
Docket NumberNo. 3:99 CV 7713.,3:99 CV 7713.
Citation119 F.Supp.2d 724
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio
PartiesUNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS UNION LOCAL NO. 911, AFL—CIO & CLC, et al., Plaintiff, v. UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL—CIO, CLC, et al., Defendant.

Theodore M. Iorio, Jr., Christine A. Reardon, Donato Iorio, Kalniz, Iorio & Feldstein, Toledo, OH, Robert E. Funk, Jr., Edward P. Wendel, Office of General Counsel, United Food and Commercial Workers, Washington, DC, for Local 911 United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL—CIO & CLC, David W. Gelios, James Brown, Pam Roberts, Andrea, John Doe.

Melvin S. Schwarzwald, Schwarzwald & Rock, Cleveland, OH, Robert E. Funk, Jr., Edward P. Wendel, Office of General Counsel, United Food and Commercial Workers, Washington, DC, for Local 951 United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, AFL—CIO & CLC, Douglas H Dority, Joseph T Hansen.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

KATZ, District Judge.

This action is before the Court on Defendants' motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 18) and Plaintiffs' motion for oral argument (Doc. 29). Jurisdiction is proper in this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, 29 U.S.C. § 185, 29 U.S.C. § 412, and 29 U.S.C. § 501. For the following reasons, Defendants' motion to dismiss will be granted, and Plaintiffs' motion will be denied.

BACKGROUND1

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 911, AFL—CIO, CLC ("Local 911") is a duly chartered Local of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL—CIO, CLC ("International Union"). Plaintiffs are Local 911, its President, David Gelios, Secretary/Treasurer of Local 911 James Brown, and Local 911 members Pam Roberts, Andrea Martin, and John Doe, representing all unnamed Local 911 members.2 Defendants are the International Union, President of the International Union Douglas Dority, Secretary/Treasurer of the International Union Joseph T. Hansen, "Region 4" of the International Union (an administrative division of the International Union), and Regional Director of Region 4 Mike Leonard.

The UFCW represents workers in the meat packing, food processing, and retail industries. Meijer, Inc. ("Meijer"), not a party to this action, is a retail chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Meijer engages in the sale of groceries and general merchandise. Local 911 is the recognized collective bargaining unit for four Meijer stores in the Toledo, Ohio, area, as well as for Meijer stores in Findlay, Ohio, and Sandusky, Ohio. Local 911's collective bargaining agreement with Meijer for its Toledo stores expired on September 19, 1998. On September 29, 1998, members of Local 911 rejected Meijer's "last, best, and final offer" through a secret ballot. Members of the unit had been informed that a vote against the contract was a vote in favor of a boycott.

On September 30, 1998, Gelios sent a letter to Dority that stated that Local 911 intended to implement a boycott. On October 8, 1998, Dority ordered Gelios not to boycott Meijer. A copy of that order was sent to Mr. Earl Holton, the chief executive officer of Meijer. Gelios called off the boycott. A rally was scheduled on November 8, 1998, at a Toledo-area Meijer store. On November 6, 1998, Dority sent a letter ordering Local 911 not to picket. At the rally, representatives of Local 911 distributed flyers informing participants that Local 911 was not boycotting Meijer and requesting that participants not engage in activity that fell within the legal definition of picketing. Local 911 and Meijer subsequently reached an agreement with respect to the Toledo-area stores.

On February 1, 1999, Gelios wrote a letter to Dority to ask whether Local 911 would be given jurisdiction over a new Meijer store scheduled to open in Bowling Green, Ohio.3 On February 18, 1999, Dority responded to Gelios' letter: "Based on consideration of the relevant factors in this matter, I am assigning jurisdiction for the new Meijer store in Bowling Green, Ohio, to Local No. 1059." Local 1059 is based in Columbus, Ohio. On February 22, 1999, Local 911 appealed the assignment of jurisdiction. On October 10, 1999, Gelios appeared at the UFCW International Executive Board Meeting in Los Angeles, California, where he presented his appeal. The Executive Board of the International Union unanimously denied the appeal, and this action followed.

Plaintiff's first amended complaint contains five counts. Count I alleges that the Defendants violated Section 101(a)(5) of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. § 411, through denial of due process during the appeal of the jurisdictional assignment. Count II alleges that the "no picket" and "no boycott" orders by the International violated Local 911's members' right to free speech and assembly as guaranteed undersection 101(a)(2) of the LMRDA. Counts III and IV both allege violations of Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 185; Count III alleges breach of contract through unreasonable diminution of jurisdiction, while Count IV alleges deprivation of due process by maintaining a dual interest. Finally, Count V alleges breach of fiduciary duty in violation of Section 501 of the LMRDA. Plaintiffs have requested punitive, prospective, exemplary, and compensatory damages in excess of one million dollars, as well as declaratory relief.

Defendants have filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint in its entirety due to lack of proper venue in this Court; in the alternative, Defendants request that Plaintiffs' complaint be dismissed due to a failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Plaintiff has filed a motion for oral argument, alleging the existence of novel and complex issues. Appropriate responses and replies have been filed, and both motions are ripe for decision.

DISCUSSION
A. Plaintiffs' Motion for Oral Argument

Plaintiffs have moved that this Court grant oral argument on Defendants' motion to dismiss. Oral argument is unnecessary. All motions for enlargement of page limit have been granted, and parties have taken ample advantage of the opportunity afforded by these motions to exhaustively brief the issues raised by the motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs' motion for oral argument will be denied.

B. Motion to Dismiss Standard

As a preliminary matter, the Court sets forth the burden on the Court once a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss has been made. In deciding a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the function of the Court is to test the legal sufficiency of the complaint. In scrutinizing the complaint, the Court is required to accept the allegations stated in the complaint as true, Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984), while viewing the complaint in a light most favorable to the plaintiffs, Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); Westlake v. Lucas, 537 F.2d 857, 858 (6th Cir.1976). The Court is without authority to dismiss the claims unless it can be demonstrated beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts that would entitle it to relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Westlake, supra, at 858. See generally 2 JAMES W. MOORE, MOORE'S FEDERAL PRACTICE, § 12.34[1] (3d ed.1997).

C. Venue under the LMRDA

Defendants argue that venue in this Court is improper because no alleged violation occurred in this district sufficient to give rise to venue under the LMRDA. Section 102 of the LMRDA states:

Any person whose rights secured by the provisions of this subchapter have been infringed by any violation of this subchapter may bring a civil action in a district court of the United States for such relief (including injunctions) as may be appropriate. Any such action against a labor organization shall be brought in the district court of the United States for the district where the alleged violation occurred, or where the principal office of such labor organization is located.

29 U.S.C. § 412.

Defendants contend that all relevant actions occurred in either Washington, D.C. (the assignment of jurisdiction to Local 1059, the issuance of the no boycott/no picket order, and the issuance of the cease boycott order) or Los Angeles, California (the International Board's affirmance of Dority's decision). To further support their position, Defendants cite Lodge No. 42 of the Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers v. Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers, 324 F.2d 201 (6th Cir.1963). In Lodge No. 42, the plaintiff labor union, located in the Middle District of Tennessee, had sued its district union, located in the Eastern District of Tennessee and its international union, located in Kansas City, Kansas. Id. at 201-02. The plaintiff alleged that the district union had requested that the international union disaffiliate the plaintiff. Id. The district court found that venue in the Middle District was improper, since neither defendant had acted in that district. Id. at 202. The Sixth Circuit, in a per curiam decision, affirmed the district court's decision, holding, "The only question presented is what if anything gave rise to a cause in the Middle District of Tennessee and in considering this question the trial judge pointed out that neither of the defendants has its principal office in that district and neither is alleged to have done anything there." Id.

Plaintiffs attempt to distinguish Local 42, and instead suggest that the instant case is more similar to Vestal v. International Bhd. of Teamsters, 245 F.Supp. 623 (M.D.Tenn.1965). In Vestal, a number of union members challenged their international union's interpretation of a referendum voting procedure. Id. The district court held that venue was appropriate even though the order for the referendum and the allegedly improper interpretation of the constitution had both taken place ...

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2 cases
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    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan
    • 14 Abril 2004
    ...in Los Angeles, California, venue in Ohio was improper. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 911, AFL-CIO & CLC v. United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC, 119 F.Supp.2d 724 (N.D.Ohio 2000). The court disagreed, finding that because the decision wa......
  • United Food and Commercial Workers v. United Food
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)
    • 22 Agosto 2002
    ...court granted the International Union's motion on the latter ground. United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local No. 911 v. United Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union, 119 F.Supp.2d 724, 729, 734-35 (N.D.Ohio 2000). This timely appeal followed. II. ANALYSIS We review de novo a district c......

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