Curto v. International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union

107 F. Supp. 805, 31 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2168, 1952 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3890
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedSeptember 2, 1952
Docket5104, 5105 and 5183
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 107 F. Supp. 805 (Curto v. International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Curto v. International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, 107 F. Supp. 805, 31 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2168, 1952 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3890 (D. Or. 1952).

Opinion

JAMES ALGER FEE, Chief Judge.

At a trial before a single jury, three cases were presented which actually involved the trial of four major issues. Before trial a pretrial conference had been held and a pretrial order adopted, which developed these issues and covered the whole field. On the cause of action by Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Ltd. (hereinafter designated as “Pineapple”) against International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union (hereinafter called “International”) and International Longshoremen’s & Ware-housemen’s Union, Local 8 (hereinafter called “Local”), there was a recovery of approximately two hundred thousand dollars. Upon the issues set up by Pineapple against International, Local and various individual longshoremen upon the ground of illegal interference with commerce between the mainland and Hawaii and with interstate transportation of the same cargo, brought about by a conspiracy to prevent the handling and movement of goods of Pineapple, there was a verdict for the defendants. In each of the actions by two truckers employed by Pineapple against various longshoremen for assault and battery, there was a verdict in damages and in punitive damages.

A number of special policemen were hired for the purpose of maintaining order and protecting the property of the port. The city of The Dalles, to the limits of which the port adjoins, employed these police. As a result of these and other activities of the members of Local, Pineapple was unable to have the cargo unloaded or transported to its subsidiary in California, although arrangements had been made with the Port of The Dalles, the Union Pacific Railroad, various trucking concerns and Goodat Crane Company for the unloading and transportation thereof.

The evidence tended to show the situation which will be hereinafter set out. Owing to a tie-up of transportation from Hawaii caused by the activity of Intemation *807 al and affiliated local unions in the Territory, Pineapple, in order to convey a cargo worth approximately half a million dollars, which was intended ultimately for a processing plant owned by a subsidiary in California, had chartered the navy barge YFN624, which was loaded with facilities and by employees of Isleways, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary. This barge was towed across to the mainland by the ocean going tug “Ona,” owned 'by Isleways. Upon arrival of the barge in the harbor of Tacoma, Washington, it was impossible to unload the cargo there, owing to resistance among labor groups in that port, engendered directly or indirectly by International, Thereafter the barge was turned over to a river tow boat by the Ona and was brought up the Columbia River ninety miles past Portland to The Dalles, Oregon, on September 24, 1949. Before its arrival there, Matt Meehan, who was a representative of International in the area, engaged in a series of conferences with officials of the Port of The Dalles, wherein he insisted that the cargo be not unloaded and that the facilities be not 'furnished to the barge. His address was truculent and aggressive. An Hawaiian, claimed to be a member of a local union there affiliated with International, was flown from the islands and arrived áf The Dalles. There were meetings of the members of Local in its hall at Portland, Oregon, at which Meehan was present and took part in the discussion. The next morning members of Local, to the number of from two hundred fifty to four hundred, proceeded in small groups by private cars to The Dalles, a distance of ninety miles. There members of Local and the Hawaiian formed a picket line outside of the dock of the Port of The Dalles, a municipal corporation.

After the picket line had been maintained for some days, certain of the longshoremen, hearing of the approach from outside the state, of teamsters belonging to a local teamsters union in California but who were engaged by Pineapple, met these employees at a point several miles from the dock, gave them an outline of conditions there and attempted to prevent their going further. However, -two trucks went upon the 'dock in the, morning and, when one of these had been loaded, the supervisor drove out and led two other trucks with drivers and helpers through the picket line and into the dock enclosure. Thereupon, in a riotous, threatening and violent manner, the longshoremen broke'through the cordon of local police and rushed onto the dock. Some of them assaulted each of -these employees of Pineapple. Two, in particular, were set upon by the longshoremen, who kicked them, beat them, and threatened them with death. The truck drivers were thus coerced into submission and, under threat of dea-th or great bodily harm, promised not to interfere further. The four trucks returned to California empty.

The longshoremen, who rushed upon the dock at the time, proceeded to the dock’s edge, having armed themselves with various weapons which -they were able to pick up, 1 attempted to damage a crane and threw some four hundred cases of pineapple into the Columbia River and attempted ineffectually to set the barge adrift. Thereafter, the longshoremen were recalled from the dock and gathered in a group outside -the boundaries of the Port, where they were addressed by Meehan, who is said to have complimented them upon the meas *808 ures' which they had just taken, 2 but instructed them to remain outside the property. Thereupon, the picket line dispersed. But the streets of The Dalles were patrolled by gangs of men with a threatening attitude and belligerent manner, and the small' community was thereby dominated. For something like a month, similar conditions prevailed as those above described, while attempts were being made to obtain a solution. On October 19, the picket line was restored when employees of the Union Pacific Railroad spotted cars on the dock in an . attempt to move part of the cargo by rail. As a result of such measures, Pineapple was not able to -transport any of this cargo until after October 26. Eventually, when some concessions were made by the Port so that the unions could claim they were not entirely defeated,'the picket line was withdrawn and the remaining pineapple was shipped to California. A number of the individuals who had gone on the dock were' arrested, indicted and- convicted of' the crime of riot in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon by pleading guilty to an indictment (here introduced in evidence) which charged, in part, that each of them “did then and there unlawfully, wilfully, routously and riotously trespass upon inclosed premises not their own, or either of them, namely, the premises of the Port of The Dalles; and did' then and there unlawfully, routously, riotously and’feloniously make an assault upon Don Higham, Eugene Hoard, Elvy Davis, Clarence Rosales and Raymond Curto, by then and'there unlawfully and feloniously striking and beating them with said cargo hooks, iron bars, clubs and sticks.”

Both Pineapple and defendants have filed motions for new trial affecting one or more of thése cases. The grounds are so broad that complete review must be had to determine to < the satisfaction; of the Court the fairness of the judgments.

At pretrial conferences the Court directed the presence of all individual defendants as well as official representatives of Local and International, in accordance with normal custom of this Court.

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107 F. Supp. 805, 31 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2168, 1952 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3890, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curto-v-international-longshoremens-warehousemens-union-ord-1952.