Dayton Newspapers, Inc. v. Teamsters Local Union No. 957

176 F. Supp. 2d 765, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23017, 2001 WL 1557522
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedMay 7, 2001
DocketC-3-97-392
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 176 F. Supp. 2d 765 (Dayton Newspapers, Inc. v. Teamsters Local Union No. 957) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dayton Newspapers, Inc. v. Teamsters Local Union No. 957, 176 F. Supp. 2d 765, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23017, 2001 WL 1557522 (S.D. Ohio 2001).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

MERZ, United States Magistrate Judge.

This case is before the Court for decision on Defendant’s [Second] Motion (Doc. No. 57) for an Order requiring Plaintiff to show cause why it should not be held in civil contempt for failing to obey the Court’s Order of May 11, 1998, enforcing the June 2,1997, Arbitration Award.

Procedural History

Plaintiff Dayton Newspapers, Inc., (“DNI”) brought this action to set aside an arbitrator’s award on behalf of Patricia Bonner; Defendant Teamsters Local Union No. 957 (“Local 957”) counterclaimed for enforcement of the award. On May 11, 1998, the Court, deciding cross-motions for summary judgment, judgment enforced the award (Doe. ## 26, 27). DNI appealed, the Court stayed enforcement pending appeal, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed (Doc. ## 28, 38, 42). Following receipt of the mandate, Local 957 instituted contempt proceedings, alleging DNI had not complied with the judgment.

On Local 957’s first contempt motion (Doc. No. 44), the Magistrate Judge certified the relevant facts to District Judge Dlott, from whom the case had been referred, and recommended that she set a date certain for a final contempt hearing (Doc. No. 51). Based upon subsequent proof that DNI had offered Ms. Bonner reinstatement to actual employment as of March 13, 2000, the Magistrate Judge then withdrew the Certificate of Facts, finding that DNI had purged itself of contempt by the offer (Doc. No. 55).

On November 1, 2000, Local 957 renewed the contempt proceedings with the instant motion. The Court took evidence on January 23 and February 5, 2001, and the parties completed briefing the matter on April 2, 2001.

Magistrate Judge Authority on the Contempt Motion

At the outset of this case, the parties unanimously consented (Doc. # 7) to plenary magistrate judge authority under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). The consent of the parties expressly includes “all post-trial matters” and neither party questioned the authority of the Magistrate Judge to decide the original contempt motion.

At the time the first contempt motion was adjudicated, however, magistrate judge authority to final adjudicate civil contempt motions in a plenary consent case was not free of doubt. Because that question is akin to subject matter jurisdiction questions, the Court raised it sua sponte. See Mansfield, C. & L M. Ry. v. Swan, 111 U.S. 379, 4 S.Ct. 510, 28 L.Ed. *767 462 (1884); Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149, 29 S.Ct. 42, 53 L.Ed. 126 (1908); Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 548, n. 2, 101 S.Ct. 764, 770, n. 2, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981).

In declining to finally adjudicate the first contempt motion, the Court wrote: 28 U.S.C. § 636(e) provides:

(e) In a proceeding before a magistrate, any of the following acts or conduct shall constitute a contempt of the district court for the district wherein the magistrate is sitting: (1) disobedience or resistance to any lawful order, process, or writ; (2) misbehavior at a hearing or other proceeding, or so near the place thereof as to obstruct the same; (3) failure to produce, after having been ordered to do so, any pertinent document; (4) refusal to appear after having been subpenaed [subpoenaed] or, upon appearing, refusal to take the oath or affirmation as a witness, or, having taken the oath or affirmation, refusal to be examined according to law; or (5) any other act or conduct which if committed before a judge of the district court would constitute contempt of such court. Upon the commission of any such act or conduct, the magistrate shall forthwith certify the facts to a judge of the district court and may serve or cause to be served upon any person whose behavior is brought into question under this section an order requiring such person to appear before a judge of that court upon a day certain to show cause why he should not be adjudged in contempt by reason of the facts so certified. A judge of the district court shall thereupon, in a summary manner, hear the evidence as to the act or conduct complained of and, if it is such as to warrant punishment, punish such person in the same manner and to the same extent as for a contempt committed before a judge of the court, or commit such person upon the conditions applicable in the case of defiance of the process of the district court or misconduct in the presence of a judge of that court.
In the case of Miami Valley Carpenters Dist. Council Pension Fund v. Scheckelhoff, 123 F.R.D. 263 (S.D.Ohio 1988), this Court was confronted with precisely the same question presented here: the authority of a magistrate judge to conduct civil contempt proceedings after judgment and in aid of injunctive relief. This Magistrate Judge concluded that the later-adopted § 636(c) authorized exercise of civil contempt authority to enforce an injunctive argument for reasons of statutory interpretation set forth there at length and quoted here in the margin 1 .
*768 Subsequent case law casts doubt on *769 whether the Scheckelhoff decision is correct. While no Circuit Court has ever expressly disagreed with its argument, neither has it been expressly adopted. In Bingman v. Ward, 100 F.3d 653 (9th Cir.1996), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1188, 117 S.Ct. 1473, 137 L.Ed.2d 686 (1997), the court held that magistrate judges have authority to adjudicate neither civil nor criminal contempts, although the case itself involved only a criminal contempt finding. The Ninth Circuit panel cited authority from other circuits holding magistrate judges cannot try con-tempts in eases before them, even under § 636(c). See Bingman, 100 F.3d at 657, citing Grimes v. City & County of San Francisco, 951 F.2d 236 (9th Cir.1991); Taberer v. Armstrong World Indus., Inc., 954 F.2d 888, 907 (3d Cir.1992); Geras v. Lafayette Display Fixtures, Inc., 742 F.2d 1037, 1044 (7th Cir.1984); Collins v. Foreman, 729 F.2d 108, 117 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 870, 105 S.Ct. 218, 83 L.Ed.2d 148 (1984); Proctor v. State Gov’t of North Carolina, 830 F.2d 514 (4th Cir.1987). In addition, the Judicial Conference of the United States has sponsored legislation 2

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176 F. Supp. 2d 765, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23017, 2001 WL 1557522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dayton-newspapers-inc-v-teamsters-local-union-no-957-ohsd-2001.