Carroll v. Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802

235 F. Supp. 161, 52 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2950, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10345
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 15, 1963
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 235 F. Supp. 161 (Carroll v. Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carroll v. Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802, 235 F. Supp. 161, 52 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2950, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10345 (S.D.N.Y. 1963).

Opinion

LEVET, District Judge.

This action, the fifth, continues unabated this “battle of injunctions” between the parties and adds the latest chapter to the rhapsody of their contest. 1 Presently the plaintiff Carroll seeks injunctive relief requiring the nullification of his expulsion from defendant unions; his reinstatement as a member and the prevention of imposition by the *164 defendants of any retaliatory measures or any interference with his business. The action is premised on the allegation that, in expelling him, the defendants violated Section 101(a) (2), 101(a) (4), 101(a) (5) of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 73 Stat. 522, 29 U.S.C. § 411.

The controversy has a long and dissonant history, without a knowledge of which the present action and its present disposition cannot properly be readily understood.

Two of the actions (60 Civ. 1169 and 60 Civ. 4025) charged the defendants with violating Section 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 186, by exacting from plaintiffs, as employers, (a) a 10% traveling surcharge; (b) a 1%% local tax and (c) a welfare overcharge of $1.00 per man per engagement. These actions were tried before me on March 5-9, 1962. After finding that the plaintiffs (Carroll and others) were acting as employers in the single engagement field and that, as such, these exactions were illegal, the complaints were dismissed because the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the taxes, having failed to show that as ex-members they were obligated to pay the illegal taxes or that they were subject to any reprisals by the defendants for failure to do so. (206 F.Supp. 462 (S.D.N.Y.1962).) Hereinafter these actions are referred to as the “302 actions.”

In the other two actions (60 Civ. 2939 and 60 Civ. 4926), which remain to be tried, the plaintiffs, Carroll and others, allege that the defendant unions conspired with certain orchestra leader-employers to fix prices in violation of the Federal anti-trust laws. Specifically these actions were directed against certain price lists issued by defendants. 60 Civ. 2939 is directed against the price list governing single and steady engagements promulgated by Local 802. 60 Civ. 4926 similarly attacks the “General Scale Increase for Special Class Club Dates,” promulgated by the defendants. In the Cutler action, I found that Cutler, an orchestra leader operating in a manner essentially identical to the plaintiff Carroll, was an employer when operating in the single engagement field and, as to him, the local tax and the traveling surcharge were illegal as violative of Section 302, 29 U.S.C. § 186. (See Opinion, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, filed November 2, 1962.)

At the hearing held in this case both sides stipulated that the court might enter final judgment in this case (as to injunctive relief) based on a record consisting not only of the papers filed in this case but in all the prior proceedings, testimony and exhibits in the other actions.

After considering this record as stipulated to by the parties, the court makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law: 2

FINDINGS OF FACT

I. THE PARTIES

1. Plaintiff Joseph Carroll, at all times relevant herein, was and is an orchestra leader engaged in the so-called “single engagement field” 3 (302 Carroll 258) and until January 2, 1962, was, and for many years had been, a member of defendant unions.

*165 2. Defendant American Federation ■of Musicians of the United States and Canada (Federation) is a labor union or labor organization within the meaning of Section 3, subdivision (i) of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 U.S.C. § 402 (i). It is affiliated with the AFL-CIO and its principal office and place of business is at 425 Park Avenue, New York, N. Y. It is an international union comprising 683 local unions located throughout the United States and Canada. (302 Ballard 665, 667)

3. Defendant Local 802 is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 3, subdivision (i) of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 U.S.C. § 402(i), and is affiliated with the defendant Federation. Its principal office and place of business is located at 261 West 52 Street, New York 19, N. Y. Local 802 represents, among others, members who are leaders and sidemen 4 in the single engagement field. Under Federation ByLaws, the territorial jurisdiction of Local 802 consists of the five boroughs of New York City and the Counties of Nassau and Suffolk. (302 PI. Ex. 12, Section 6, p. 5; 302 Cutler 80-81; 302 Arons 453)

4. Membership in a local affiliated with the Federation implies membership in the Federation. (302 PI. Ex. 29, §§ 10, 11; 302 Arons 430)

11. THE PLAINTIFF’S RELATIONSHIP AND POSITION IN THE INDUSTRY

5. The single engagement field is an industry affecting interstate commerce. Orchestra leaders, such as plaintiff, fulfill engagements outside the state in which they usually operate and in which their principal offices are located. (302 PI. Exs. 19, 21, 40, 41; 302 Cutler 154-55, 185; 302 Carroll 265-68; 302 Peterson 349-53, 383-87, 397-99) Travel by orchestras in the single engagement field composed of members of defendant unions is contemplated by defendant unions and regulated by them in various ways. See, e. g., Ballard Aff. Ex. A, pp. 104, 109, 114-15; 302 PI. Ex. 7, p. 23. Defendants’ own publications and practices, such as their 10% traveling surcharge, their rules and regulations pertaining to traveling members, their mileage charges, demonstrate that defendants unions represent members (both leaders and sidemen) in the single engagement field whose engagements require a constant continuous stream of trade and commerce between the states of the United States. (302 Def. Exs. AE, AL, AQ, AR, AR1)

6. Plaintiff Carroll devotes his full time to his profession as orchestra leader, and his relationship with his clients, who are normally engaged in other businesses or professions, is transcient in nature. As an orchestra leader, plaintiff regularly employs sidemen who are members of defendants, to whom he regularly pays union wages, and who work under union standards prescribed by defendants.

7. Plaintiff Carroll fulfills engagements outside of the State of New York, in which he usually operates and in which his principal office is located. (302 PI. Exs. 19, 21, 40, 41; 302 Carroll 265-68)

8. In the course of his business, plaintiff Carroll, among other things, customarily does the following:

(a) Organizes his own band (302 Carroll 260);

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Bluebook (online)
235 F. Supp. 161, 52 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2950, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carroll-v-associated-musicians-of-greater-new-york-local-802-nysd-1963.