Bowman v. Moe

404 P.2d 437, 66 Wash. 2d 629, 1965 Wash. LEXIS 906, 60 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2284
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1965
DocketNo. 37421
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 404 P.2d 437 (Bowman v. Moe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowman v. Moe, 404 P.2d 437, 66 Wash. 2d 629, 1965 Wash. LEXIS 906, 60 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2284 (Wash. 1965).

Opinion

Donworth, J.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Bowman, who was the trustee of the Master Licensed Embalmers Union, Local 18189, appointed by the president of the AFL-CIO national organization under circumstances described below.

Appellants are defendants Moe and Pettinger, who were the president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of Local 18189, which was an affiliate of AFL-CIO. The trial court granted to plaintiff Bowman a mandatory injunction directing appellants Moe and Pettinger to turn over to Bowman the books, charter, seal, cash, and all other properties of Local 18189, including $7,100 held by Moe and Pettinger in the form of 71 separate $100 bank drafts, which were made payable to each of the 71 members of Local 18189 who were in good standing as of February 1, 1963. Appellants have appealed from this summary judgment, but have turned over all the above-mentioned items to Bowman except the 71 drafts of $100 each. The drafts have never been delivered to the payees and are in the possession of this court. Only that portion of the injunctive order relating to the $7,100 in bank drafts is challenged on the appeal.

In his complaint, Bowman alleges two causes of action. First, he alleges that Moe and Pettinger are bound by their oath of office, and the constitutions of the local union and of the AFL-CIO, and the Rules Governing Directly Affiliated Local Unions,1 and by the local union’s charter issued by the AFL-CIO. He further alleges that the oath of office and these documents are in the nature of a contract and [631]*631that Moe and Pettinger violated their contractual obligations contained therein, and that, as a consequence, the local union was placed in a trusteeship and later the charter of Local 18189 was revoked by the AFL-CIO. He further alleged that, by virtue of his appointment as trustee by the president of the AFL-CIO, he is the only person presently authorized to have possession of any of the property of Local 18189, and that Moe and Pettinger wrongfully have refused to turn over the local union’s property to him.

The second cause of action re-alleged all of the contractual obligations of the first cause of action, and then stated a claim in the nature of an illegal and improper disbursement of the $7,100 of union funds by appellants, contrary to their fiduciary duties as officers of Local 18189, even though appellants had been advised by respondent Bowman of the “illegality” of the disbursement.

The answer made by appellants Moe and Pettinger included several denials of respondent’s allegations regarding the alleged nature of the obligations and violations thereof contained in the complaint. The answer further alleged an affirmative defense in the form of authorization by the local union membership for the disbursement of funds, after the membership had authorized the NLRB election to determine the issue of disaffiliation with the AFL-CIO.

Respondent Bowman moved for summary judgment and the affidavits of the parties and their attorneys in support of, and in opposition to, this motion were filed. The trial court found that there were no material facts at issue, awarded summary judgment to respondent Bowman, and issued the mandatory injunction referred to above.

The affidavits of the parties and their attorneys are in agreement concerning the facts set forth below. The sequence of events that occurred are:

(1) Appellant Roy Moe was duly elected president, and appellant Thomas Pettinger was duly re-elected secretary-treasurer of Local 18189 at a general meeting of the membership in November, 1962.
[632]*632(2) Appellants Moe and Pettinger were sworn into office on December 3,1962, at a general meeting of the local membership.
(3) At the meeting on December 3, 1962, the membership voted a directive to the executive board instructing it to explore ways and means of disaffiliating with the AFL-CIO.
(4) Acting on those instructions, the executive board sent secret ballots to each member asking him with what other international he might care to affiliate, or whether he would rather not affiliate with any international. Seventy ballots were mailed to the members and 59 thereof were returned with a recorded vote.
(5) January 7, 1963, at a regular meeting, the results of the poll were announced. There were 46 votes in favor of affiliating with the Teamsters’ Union and 13 votes to remain with the AFL-CIO.
(6) January 29,1963, the Trucking and Equipment Clerks, Report Clerks and Clerical Employees, Local Union 154, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, filed a petition before the National Labor Relations Board for an election and certification of representation with regard to the employees employed by the members of the King County Funeral Directors Association.
(7) February 1, 1963, in order to avoid seizure of funds then in the local union treasury, in the event the disaffiliation later occurred, and with full expectation that the membership would vote to disaffiliate, appellant officers Moe and Pettinger withdrew $7,100 of the union funds, leaving enough in the bank for operation of the local union prior to its anticipated dissolution. Individual drafts of $100 each were purchased from the Washington Federal Savings and Loan Association, payable to the individual union members.
(8) February 4, 1963, Teamster representatives presented to the membership of Local 18189, at a general meeting, a discussion of the “advantages” to be gained by affiliation with the Teamsters, and explained the rules of the Teamsters’ International Union. At this same meeting, the Teamsters’ International representative told the membership of [633]*633Local 18189 that the Teamsters could not and would not accept a transfer of the local union’s treasury funds. The leadership of Local 18189 apparently then told the membership that the treasury funds in the amount of $7,100 were not needed to operate Local 18189 since it was certain to be dissolved by the AFL-CIO. The membership voted to disburse the funds to individual members in the form of individual drafts. The vote on this issue was 27 votes in favor of the distribution, and 23 votes against. This action by the membership is claimed by appellants to have ratified appellants’ action of February 1, 1963, in withdrawing the $7,100 in the form of 71 separate bank drafts payable to 71 members in good standing as of February 1, 1963.
(9) February 5, 1963, the AFL-CIO was informed of the meeting and the pending disaffiliation, and the president immediately declared the local to be in the trusteeship of plaintiff-respondent, Bowman, who is the resident AFL-CIO regional representative. Respondent demanded all funds and property of the local, but appellants refused to surrender any funds, and agreed to surrender the union records only on the condition that, after a reasonable time to enable respondent to study and copy the records, they would be returned. Respondent refused to accept them on this condition, and renewed his unconditional demands, to which he has always received the same conditional refusal to surrender the property of the local.

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404 P.2d 437, 66 Wash. 2d 629, 1965 Wash. LEXIS 906, 60 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowman-v-moe-wash-1965.