Dazzo v. Meyers

83 A.D.2d 14, 443 N.Y.S.2d 245, 1981 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 14334
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedOctober 19, 1981
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 83 A.D.2d 14 (Dazzo v. Meyers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dazzo v. Meyers, 83 A.D.2d 14, 443 N.Y.S.2d 245, 1981 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 14334 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Gibbons, J.

This appeal presents for resolution, inter alia, questions concerning the legal sufficiency of a complaint containing [15]*15allegations that defamatory statements were utilized as a method of discrimination to prevent employment, and whether such alleged conduct constitutes the kind of “outrageous conduct” which is not pre-empted by sections 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (US Code, tit 29, §§ 157, 158), and for which the State is permitted to provide a concurrent remedy for damages.

The factual background of this case is as follows:

Anthony Dazzo (plaintiff) was employed by defendant Atherton Cadillac, Inc. (Cadillac) as its service department general manager from 1965 to February 11,1975. On that latter date, Dazzo was discharged by Cadillac. At the time of the discharge, Cadillac was in the process of negotiating a labor dispute with its employees who were represented by Local 259, United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (Local 259).

Dazzo challenged his firing as an unfair labor practice, claiming that Local 259 requested his dismissal in exchange for bargaining concessions with his employer in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

Dazzo was ultimately successful in his claim before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which directed, inter alia, that Local 259 agree to Dazzo’s reinstatement and that Local 259 pay Dazzo for any lost earnings. The order of the NLRB was affirmed by the Court of Appeals and judgment was entered thereon (National Labor Relations Bd. v Local 259, CA, June 30, 1977).

The plaintiffs commenced the instant action against defendants Atherton Cadillac, Richard C. Atherton, Jr., its president, and Frank Pepine, its service manager, on September 22, 1977, and against the defendant Local 259 on October 4, 1977. Plaintiff Anthony Dazzo pleaded four causes of action. First, he alleged that Local 259 had “[by] unlawful malicious [and] illegal acts” caused Cadillac to fire him on February 11, 1975 and that Local 259 had continued from that time “to date” to prevent his reemployment within the automobile servicing industry by communicating “threats of economic reprisals to potential and actual employers”.

Second, Dazzo pleaded that the allegations in the first cause of action, with respect to his discharge by Cadillac, [16]*16had already been adjudicated and fully litigated by virtue of the determination of the NLRB and the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals.

Third, Dazzo alleged that “in about November, 1976 [defendant] Pepine, while acting as an authorized agent of [the defendants] Cadillac and Atherton” slandered Dazzo to an employer by stating that, when Dazzo was employed by Cadillac, Dazzo stole money and property from Cadillac, and that this slander, among other things, damaged his reputation and prevented him from obtaining gainful employment.

Fourth, beginning about January, 1975, and continuing to date, defendants Local 259, Cadillac and Atherton, later joined by Pepine, conspired and agreed “to harrass [sic] defame and deprive plaintiff of his livelyhood [sic]” by (a) securing his discharge from Cadillac, (b) securing his discharge from a subsequent employer, (c) making numerous false utterances concerning his integrity and fitness as a service manager and maligning his reputation, and (d) from January, 1975 to date, continuously and maliciously harassing plaintiff in his occupation.

The fifth cause of action was alleged by Dazzo’s wife as a derivative cause of action for mental distress and loss of her husband’s comfort and companionship.

Local 259 petitioned to have the matter removed to the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Its position was that the first two causes of action were governed by the National Labor Relations Act and that the claim was, therefore, one arising under the laws of the United States. Plaintiffs moved in the Federal court to have the matter remanded to the State court. The latter motion was granted by Judge Platt of the District Court in a decision in which he held that, although jurisdiction over violations of the National Labor Relations Act concerning union discrimination in employment opportunities is preempted by the NLRB’s primary jurisdiction, where, however, the claimed violation of the Labor Act also constituted either the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress or the tort of “intentional circulation of defamatory material known to be false”, cognizable State claims [17]*17were pleaded under the rationale expressed in Farmer v Carpenters (430 US 290, 304-306). Without expressing any further opinion, the matter was remanded to the State court for a determination as to “whether the proof will be sufficient under State law to amount to such outrageous conduct causing emotional distress and mental anguish or defamation as to warrant a recovery on the part of the plaintiffls] herein.”

Upon remand to the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, defendant Local 259 and defendants Cadillac, Richard Atherton and Frank Pepine moved, each separately, to dismiss the complaint on three grounds: (1) that the NLRB had exclusive jurisdiction; (2) pursuant to CPLR 3211 (subd [a], par 5), that the action was barred by the one-year Statute of Limitations for intentional torts; and (3) pursuant to CPLR 3211 (subd [a], par 5), that the matter was res judicata, referring to the judgment of the Second Circuit enforcing the order and decision of the NLRB. In addition, Local 259 asked for dismissal on the ground that it could not be sued in the name of the unincorporated association nor be held liable for actions not approved or ratified by its members (see CPLR 1025; General Associations Law, § 13) and that plaintiffs’ attempt to remedy these alleged defects by serving an amended complaint (adding the name of the President of Local 259, Samuel Meyers, and an assertion of ratification by the membership) was ineffectual, inasmuch as the amended complaint was not timely served.

Plaintiffs cross-moved for consolidation of the actions pleaded in the first and second complaints, or, alternatively, to amend the first complaint to include the new allegations contained in the second complaint.

Special Term dismissed the complaint as to all defendants except with respect to those allegations which it deemed to state “causes of action for the intentional infliction of emotional distress and the plaintiff wife’s derivative action for mental distress, both of which causes of action shall also be dismissed unless plaintiffs meet the burden of proving that the events allegedly giving rise to a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress are closely connected and form a clear and discernible pattern of harassment and intimidation continuing beyond one [18]*18year of the date upon which the action was commenced against each defendant”.

Assuming that “the act upon which the action for libel and slander [is based] occurred in February, 1975” (instead of “November, 1976” as alleged in the complaint), the court held that “the action which was commenced in September, 1977 is barred as it was not begun within the one-year statutory limitation as mandated by CPLR 215 (3).”

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Bluebook (online)
83 A.D.2d 14, 443 N.Y.S.2d 245, 1981 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 14334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dazzo-v-meyers-nyappdiv-1981.