Wooddell v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 71

Decision Date04 December 1991
Docket NumberNo. 90-967,90-967
Citation502 U.S. 93,116 L.Ed.2d 419,112 S.Ct. 494
PartiesGuy WOODDELL, Jr., Petitioner v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 71, et al
CourtU.S. Supreme Court
Syllabus

Petitioner Wooddell, a member of Local 71 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), sued respondents, the Local and its officers, alleging, inter alia, that, because of his opposition to proposed union actions, they had violated his rights under Title I of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) by discriminating against him in job referrals in the operation of a hiring hall provided for in the Local's collective-bargaining contracts with electrical contractors. He also contended that such conduct constituted violations of the IBEW Constitution and the Local's bylaws, which were allegedly breaches of contract redressable under § 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947 (LMRA). Among other things, Wooddell sought injunctive relief, lost wages and benefits, and damages. The District Court dismissed all claims against all defendants. The Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of the LMRDA claim but otherwise affirmed the District Court, including its holding that Wooddell had no right to have the LMRDA claim tried to a jury. The Court of Appeals further held that § 301—which provides that "[s]uits for violation of contracts between . . . labor organizations . . . may be brought in . . . district court"—did not authorize a breach-of-contract action to be brought by an individual union member for an alleged violation of a union constitution.

Held:

1. Wooddell was entitled to a jury trial on the LMRDA cause of action. Although he seeks injunctive relief as well as damages, the injunctive relief is assertedly incidental to the damages. His claim for lost wages cannot be treated as restitutionary incident to an order reinstating him to a job from which he has been terminated, as the damages sought are for pay for jobs to which the union failed to refer him. Also, an LMRDA action is closely analogous to a personal injury action, a prototypical example of an action at law to which the Seventh Amendment right to jury trial applies. Thus, Teamsters v. Terry, 494 U.S. 558, 565, 570, 571, 110 S.Ct. 1339, ----, ----, ----, 108 L.Ed.2d 519—in which the Court found a right to a jury trial on a claim for an employer's breach of a collective-bargaining agreement under § 301 and a union's breach of the duty of fair representation—controls this case. Pp. 97-98.

2. The subject-matter jurisdiction conferred on the district courts by § 301(a) extends to suits on union constitutions brought by individual union members. Wooddell charged a violation of a contract between unions within the meaning of § 301, since union constitutions are an important form of contract between labor organizations, Plumbers and Pipefitters v. Plumbers and Pipefitters, Local 334, 452 U.S. 615, 624, 101 S.Ct. 2546, 2551, 69 L.Ed.2d 280, and since Wooddell alleged that the IBEW Constitution requires locals to live up to collective-bargaining agreements, that that constitution and the Local's bylaws are contracts which are binding on the Local, and that the defendants had breached such contracts by discriminating against him in referrals. Moreover, § 301 is not limited to suits brought by a party to an interunion contract, but extends to individual union members when they are the beneficiaries of such contracts. Cf. Smith v. Evening News Assn., 371 U.S. 195, 200-201, 83 S.Ct. 267, 270-271, 9 L.Ed.2d 246. If such members could not sue under § 301, but were required to resort to state court and state law, the possibility that individual contract terms might have different meanings under state and federal law would inevitably exert a disruptive influence upon the negotiation and administration of interunion contracts. Cf. ibid. There is no merit to respondents' contention that construing § 301 in this fashion signals an unwarranted intrusion on state contract law, since there is no indication in the later-enacted LMRDA that Congress meant to narrow § 301's reach. Also unconvincing is respondents' submission that this construction of § 301 will inundate the federal courts with trivial suits dealing with intraunion affairs, since there is no evidence of such a result in the various Federal Circuits that have adopted the interpretation. Pp. 98-103.

907 F.2d 151 (CA6 1990) reversed and remanded.

WHITE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which all other Members joined, except THOMAS, J., who took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Theodore E. Meckler, Cleveland, Ohio, for petitioner.

Frederick G. Cloppert, Jr., Columbus, Ohio, for respondents.

Justice WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court.

We have before us two questions: whether a union member who sues his local union for money damages under Title I of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), 73 Stat. 519, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 401 et seq., is entitled to a jury trial, and whether under § 301(a) of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947 (LMRA), 61 Stat. 156, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a) 1 the District Court had jurisdiction over the breach of contract suit brought in this case by a union member against his local union.

I

Petitioner is a member of Local 71 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). In the wake of a dispute arising out of petitioner's opposition to an announced dues increase and to the appointment of a union representative, the respondent President of the Local (petitioner's brother) filed internal disciplinary proceedings against petitioner. No decision was finally rendered on the charges. Later, petitioner alleges, the union discriminated against him in job referrals in the operation of a hiring hall provided for in Local 71's collective-bargaining contracts with electrical contractors. Petitioner brought suit against the Local and its officers in United States District Court. Petitioner's complaint alleged violation of his rights protected by the LMRDA in that he had been discriminated against in job referrals because of his opposition to proposed union policy; violation of his right to a fair hearing under the LMRDA; violations of the IBEW Constitution and the bylaws of Local 71, which were alleged to constitute breaches of contract redressable under § 301 of the LMRA and state law; breach of the duty of fair representation redressable under § 301; and pendent state-law claims alleging interference with contractual relations and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Petitioner sought injunctive relief, lost wages and benefits, additional compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys fees. App. 14-15.

In the course of acting on two summary judgment motions filed by defendants, the District Court dismissed all claims against all defendants. The Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of the LMRDA free speech-job discrimination claim but otherwise affirmed the District Court, including its holding that petitioner had no right to have his LMRDA claim tried to a jury. With respect to the § 301 breach-of-contract claim, the Court of Appeals relied on prior circuit precedent 2 in holding that § 301 did not authorize such an action to be brought by an individual union member. We granted certiorari to address both the jury trial and the § 301 issues. 498 U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 951, 112 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1991).

II

We first address the jury trial issue. The case below was briefed and argued before our decision in Teamsters v. Terry, 494 U.S. 558, 110 S.Ct. 1339, 108 L.Ed.2d 519 (1990). Although Terry was handed down on March 20, 1990, well before the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the decision below neither cites nor discusses Terry.

To determine whether a particular action will resolve legal rights, and therefore give rise to a jury trial right, we examine both the nature of the issues involved and the remedy sought. Id., at 565, 110 S.Ct., at ----. " 'First, we compare the statutory action to 18th-century actions brought in the courts of England prior to the merger of the courts of law and equity. Second, we examine the remedy sought and determine whether it is legal or equitable in nature.' " Ibid., citing Tull v. United States, 481 U.S. 412, 417-418, 107 S.Ct. 1831, 1835-1836, 95 L.Ed.2d 365 (1987). The second inquiry is the more important in our analysis. Terry, supra, 494 U.S., at 565, 110 S.Ct., at ----. Citing Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg, 492 U.S. 33, 42, 109 S.Ct. 2782, 2790, 106 L.Ed.2d 26 (1989).

In Terry we applied settled principles of Seventh Amendment interpretation to a claim for an employer's breach of a collective-bargaining agreement under § 301 and the union's breach of the duty of fair representation. Generally, an award of money damages was the traditional form of relief offered in the courts of law. Terry, supra 494 U.S., at 570, 110 S.Ct., at ----, citing Curtis v. Loether, 415 U.S. 189, 196, 94 S.Ct. 1005, 1009, 39 L.Ed.2d 260 (1974). Because we found that the damages sought were neither analogous to equitable restitutionary relief, Tull, 481 U.S., at 424, 107 S.Ct., at 1839, nor incidental to or intertwined with injunctive relief, ibid., we concluded that the remedy had none of the attributes required for an exception to the general rule, and thus found the remedy sought to be legal. Terry, supra, 494 U.S., at 570, 571, 110 S.Ct., at ----, ----.

Petitioner contends that, although he seeks injunctive relief as well as damages, the injunctive relief is incidental to the damages, and not vice versa, and that his claim for lost wages cannot be treated as restitutionary incident to an order reinstating him to a job from which he has been terminated, as the damages sought are for pay for jobs to which the union failed to refer him. Also, this Court has recently held that actions under the LMRDA are...

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