Vestal v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, ETC., Civ. A. No. 4173.

• Decision Date: 16 September 1965
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 4173.
• Citation: 245 F. Supp. 623
• Parties: Don VESTAL, as President and Business Manager of Local 327 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, etc., and Garland Locke and Ed Westherly, members of Local 327 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, etc., Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA and James R. Hoffa, General President of said International Union, and George J. Abrams, Executive Director of the Honest Ballot Association, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

245 F. Supp. 623

Don VESTAL, as President and Business Manager of Local 327 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, etc., and Garland Locke and Ed Westherly, members of Local 327 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, etc., Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA and James R. Hoffa, General President of said International Union, and George J. Abrams, Executive Director of the Honest Ballot Association, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 4173.

United States District Court M. D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

September 16, 1965.

George E. Barrett, Nashville, Tenn., and James C. Kirby, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs.

Cecil Branstetter, Nashville, Tenn., and David Previant, Milwaukee, Wis., for defendants.

WILLIAM E. MILLER, Chief Judge.

Local 327 is a duly chartered and affiliated Local of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America. Plaintiffs are the President and Business Manager of Local 327, and two members of the Local. Defendants are the International Brotherhood, the General President thereof, and the Executive Director of the Honest Ballot Association.

Local 327 has 5,000 members, 2,100 of whom are employed in the freight industry and will hereafter be referred to as "freighters." The plaintiffs are all non-freighters who sue on behalf of themselves and others in like or similar circumstances.

In March 1965, the General Executive Board of the International Brotherhood received a petition containing 1,500 signatures of members of Local 327 favoring and 500 signatures opposing the issuance of a separate charter to the freighters of Local 327. The Board thereupon directed that a mail referendum be conducted among the freighter members of Local 327. The plaintiffs objected to the use of a mail referendum, and to the fact that only freighters would be permitted to vote.¹ To this latter objection, the General President replied that the Board had authority under the International Constitution to issue a separate charter without any referendum, but the Board felt that it would be "more democratic to let the members involved make the decision on the separate charter for themselves." The General President further stated his interpretation of Article VI, § 1(h) of the International Constitution to be that only the members who would be covered by the separate charter would be eligible to vote on the issue. The Local Union appealed this interpretation to the General Executive Board. The appeal was rejected. The Board specifically: (1) reaffirmed the decision to conduct a mail referendum; (2) reaffirmed the General President's interpretation of the International Constitution that only the freighters would be eligible to vote; (3) ratified all implemental steps taken by the General President; and (4) decided that all other issues raised in the appeal were irrelevant.²

On July 26, 1965, the plaintiffs filed suit in this court. Their complaint alleged a violation of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (hereafter referred to as the "Act"), 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 411 and 412, in that the non-freighters would be denied their equal right to vote in the proposed referendum. The complaint asked the court (1) to issue a Temporary Restraining Order to restrain the defendant Abrams from mailing the ballots to the freighters; and (2) to hold a hearing on the issues and to enjoin the defendants from conducting the proposed referendum. That same day, at 8:30 p. m., the court directed the clerk to issue an ex parte restraining order, and set August 4, 1965 for a hearing on plaintiffs' application for injunctive relief. At 11:17 p. m. that night, a copy of the restraining order was served on defendant Abrams, who informed the Marshal that he had anticipated the order and had already mailed the ballots.

Accordingly, on August 4, 1965, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint which recited the above facts and which asked the court (1) to seize and impound all ballots which were in, or which would come into, the possession of defendant Abrams or the Postal Authorities; and (2) to enjoin the defendants from conducting the referendum and from taking any action as a result thereof.

On August 6, 1965, after a full hearing, the court denied plaintiffs' application for injunctive relief. The court's order, however, expressly reserved all questions and issues for determination should the majority of the freighters vote for a separate charter. The order also enjoined the defendants from taking any steps to implement or certify the results of the referendum, and specifically enjoined the issuance of a separate charter.

Subsequent to this order, the referendum was held. Nine hundred ninety-six (996) freighters out of the 1467 voting (and the 2,100 eligible to vote) favored the issuance of a separate charter. Three hundred ninety-three (393) freighters were opposed. The remaining ballots were, for acceptable reasons, not counted.³

On August 27, 1965, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the injunction issued on August 6, and to dismiss the original complaint. A hearing was held on this motion on September 3, 1965.

Before reaching the merits of this case, it is necessary to consider defendants' motion to dismiss for want of proper venue. Title 29 U.S.C.A. § 412 provides that venue in this type of case shall be found "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." The principal offices of the International Brotherhood are located in Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, D. C. Consequently, venue is proper only if the alleged violation occurred in this district. This, in turn, depends on what the alleged violation is. Defendants admit that if the alleged violation is the conducting of a limited referendum, then venue would be proper. Defendants contend, however, that the principal violation which the plaintiffs allege is the improper interpretation of the International Constitution, and that since the interpretation did not occur in this district, there is no venue. The court disagrees with the defendants' definition of the alleged violation. But even if we assume that defendants' definition is correct, their motion to dismiss is without merit. Constitutions are not interpreted in a vacuum. The General President's interpretation of the International Constitution is challenged by the plaintiffs only because of its direct effect upon the plaintiffs' actions in this district. To say that the "interpretation" of the Constitution did not occur in this district is to ignore the fact that the interpreted Constitution, as applied, vitally affects the rights, duties and actions of plaintiffs and Local 327.

Defendants rely on Lodge No. 42 v. International Bro. of Boilermakers, 324 F.2d 201 (6th Cir., 1963), cert. denied, 376 U.S. 913, 84 S.Ct. 669, 11 L.Ed. 2d 610 (1964), which was tried by Judge Frank Gray, Jr. of this court. In that suit, a District Lodge (located outside this district) requested the International Brotherhood (also located outside this district) to disaffiliate a Local Lodge (located in this district) from International membership. Judge Gray granted defendants' motion to dismiss for improper venue and his ruling was affirmed on appeal. We think that decision to be correct, but clearly distinguishable. In that case, the request for disaffiliation was initiated outside this district. In this case, the request for a separate charter was initiated by petitions from within this district. In that case, the Court of Appeals was careful to point out that neither of the defendants was alleged to have done anything in this district. In this case, however, the defendant Abrams (alleged to be an agent of the International Brotherhood) has been present in this district actively conducting a referendum. Furthermore, the defendants in that case did not require any action of the plaintiffs. In this case, the defendants have required plaintiff Vestal to compile and submit membership lists to the International, and have requested plaintiff Vestal to cooperate in making arrangements for the referendum. Clearly, the referendum itself, and all significant actions, have taken place in this district. Defendants' motion to dismiss for want of proper venue must therefore be denied. To rule otherwise would require this action to be brought in Detroit or Washington, far removed from the actual scene of controversy.

The defendants have also moved to dismiss for the reason that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. We turn now to this issue.

The plaintiffs now seek to enjoin the certification of the referendum vote for the reason that non-freighters were denied the equal right to vote. If they have such a right, the denial would be a violation of 29 U.S.C.A. § 411(a) (1), and would confer jurisdiction upon this court pursuant to § 412.

Defendants rely upon Article XVII, § 1(b) of the International Constitution as "authority * * * to issue the separate charter without conducting any vote." This section is irrelevant. Since defendants have not attempted to issue a separate charter without holding a vote, the applicability of section 1(b) is not in question. Having chosen to hold a vote, defendants cannot seriously contend that the members of Local 327 do not now have a right to vote. Nor can the defendants arbitrarily grant the right to vote to some members while withholding the right from others.

It appears, then, that at least some of the members of Local 327 do have a right to vote on the issuance of a separate charter, and that this is a right which is "secured" by § 411 of the Act. We must now determine whether these plaintiffs have such a right, or whether the right may be limited to the freighter members of Local 327.

Plaintiffs contend that once a referendum has been...