Brand v. John C. Groub Co.

157 N.E.2d 836, 129 Ind. App. 469, 44 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2639, 1959 Ind. App. LEXIS 109
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 20, 1959
DocketNo. 19,013
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 157 N.E.2d 836 (Brand v. John C. Groub Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brand v. John C. Groub Co., 157 N.E.2d 836, 129 Ind. App. 469, 44 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2639, 1959 Ind. App. LEXIS 109 (Ind. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

Bierly, J.

This is an appeal from an interlocutory order and judgment of the Jackson Circuit Court entered February 6, 1957, temporarily enjoining appellants from picketing in any manner any premises occupied by the appellee for business purposes.

Appellants contend the trial court did not have jurisdiction of the subject matter of this action. Hence, the trial court granting a temporary injunction was contrary to law.

In answer, appellee, as shown in its brief at page 6, contends that “The jurisdiction of an Indiana court to enforce the positive policy declared by the State Legislature is not ousted or preempted by the National Labor Relations Act”, 29 U.S.C.A., §151 et seq.

A consideration of the evidence is necessary for a determination of the question presented.

From the record it appears that appellee, John C. Groub Company, Inc., owns and operates Jay-C Stores in southern Indiana, the same being grocery stores. It conducts a wholesale operation in Seymour, Jackson County, Indiana, receiving shipments of goods and supplies at its warehouse, and thence making shipments therefrom to retail stores aforesaid.

In August, 1956 a representative of Teamster Local Union No. 89 based at Louisville, Kentucky, contacted appellee and discussed the matter of representing the warehouse employees of the appellee. Applications for [471]*471membership therein were signed by some of the employees. Shortly thereafter Teamster Local Union No. 89 deferred and relinquished its activities in favor of Local 135, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL-CIO, in the matter of representing the employees of the appellee at its warehouse in Seymour. Said Local 135 is an unincorporated association known as a labor union, and the named individual appellants are officers and members thereof. Certain of the individual appellants were engaged in behalf of said Union in procuring its recognition as the bargaining agent representing the employees of appellee’s Seymour warehouse. Prior to October 8, 1956, the individual appellants, excepting Fred Lammert and Sherman Burnett, were employed by appellee at its Seymour warehouse. Twenty-six or twenty-eight employees were involved, including warehousemen and truck drivers.

On October 8, 1956, thirteen employees went on strike against appellee and began picketing the warehouse. Said employees have remained on strike against the appellee, and with the exception of the time that a restraining order without notice was in effect, said thirteen employees of the appellee continued to picket the warehouse of the appellee in Seymour from said date of October 8, 1956, to and including February 6, 1957, on which date the trial court issued the temporary injunction herein.

On September 7, 1956, said Local Union No. 135 filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board at Indianapolis, Indiana, in which Local Union No. 135 stated, among other things, that the appellee, John C. Groub Company, was engaged in the wholesale grocery business; that all truck drivers and [472]*472warehousemen employed at the warehouse, consisting of twenty-seven employees, constituted an appropriate unit for collective bargaining purposes; that a substantial number of employees involved wished to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining by the union; and that the union desired to be certified as the representative of said employees for purposes of collective bargaining pursuant to §9 (a) and (c) of the National Labor Relations Act. The appellee was notified by the National Labor Relations Board as to the filing of said petition by the union and, among other things, requested appellee to return to the Board a certain questionaire forwarded to the appellee by the Board. Said questionaire was completed and returned by appellee to the Board and therein the appellee admitted among other things, that it did not have a subsidiary or operating division of the company operating in more than one state and that the approximate value of goods shipped during 1956 to the warehouse in Seymour from points outside of the state was in excess of $500,000.00. On September 18, 1956, a meeting or conference was held in the office of the Board attended by a representative of the appellee, a representative of the union, and a representative of the Board. The representative for the Board drew up a “Stipulation for Certification Upon Consent Election” and an “Agreement for Consent Election” which were signed by a representative of the union but not by the appellee.

On Monday, October 8, 1956, the union and some employees of the appellee commenced picketing the warehouse of the appellee at Seymour. On October 11th the appellee received a notice from the Board [473]*473that the petition which had been filed by Local Union No. 135 for an election and certification had been withdrawn by the union and that a hearing which had been scheduled with respect to said petition of the union for October 12th had been cancelled. This was the last notice and communication which the appellee had received from the Board or the union.

The picketing continued to October 11th at which time the trial court issued its restraining order without notice. Thereafter, on October 17, 1956, the trial court issued a temporary injunction, restraining appellants from violence, or threats of violence of any kind or character, but therein specifically granting to appellants “the right of lawful and peaceable picketing, individually or collectively, in reasonable numbers, and the additional right to further their own interests by any and all lawful and peaceable means of persuasion.”

Thereafter, on or about October 18, 1956, the appellants again began to picket the warehouse of the appellee at Seymour, and also on various occasions picketed several of the grocery stores in Seymour and surrounding cities in southern Indiana. The picketing caused the appellee some financial loss on the operation of its warehouse in Seymour, and some loss resulted from the picketing of some of the Jay-C Stores.

On December 12, 1956, the appellee filed with the Board at Indianapolis an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against Teamster Local Union No. 135, which said charge, among other things, alleged that the union had engaged in unfair labor practices within the meaning of §8(b) (4) (A) and (B) of the National Labor Relations Act, and that these unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting com[474]*474merce within the meaning of the Act, and that the union was engaging in such unfair labor practices for the purpose of forcing and requiring said John C. Groub Company, Inc., to recognize and bargain with said Local Union No. 135 as representative of its employees, notwithstanding said Local Union No. 135 had never been certified as representative of the employees of said Company. The Unfair Labor Practice Charge as filed by the appellee against the union, was still pending before the National Labor Relations Board at the time of the hearing on January 26, 1957, at which time the appellee applied for further injunctive relief.

On February 6, 1957, the trial court rendered its special finding of facts on the submission of the application for temporary injunction on the appellee’s supplemental complaint, and ordered and adjudged that appellants be temporarily enjoined and restrained from in any manner picketing any premises occupied by the appellee for business purposes.

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157 N.E.2d 836, 129 Ind. App. 469, 44 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2639, 1959 Ind. App. LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brand-v-john-c-groub-co-indctapp-1959.