Fair, Inc. v. Retail Clerks International Protective Ass'n, Local No. 131

157 S.W.2d 716, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 1054
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 4, 1941·No. No. 3991·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

WALKER, Chief Justice.

Appellants are The Fair, Inc., a Texas corporation, owner of “Green’s”, a department store in Orange, and many of the employees. Appellees are the Retail Clerks International Protective Association, Local No. 131, its officers, business agents, members, Mr. Sutton and W. R. Varnall, International Representative. The suit was by appellants as plaintiffs against appellees as defendants, praying for a permanent injunction restraining appellees from conducting a picket line in front of the premises of The Fair, Inc., at O-ange, and to restrain appellees from picketing the store known as “Green’s”, and to restrain the assembling of pickets and their sympathizers in front of the store, and to restrain appellees from committing other acts which appellants alleged were of a coercive and [718] intimidating- nature, and damaging to their business. Appellants alleged, individually, that they were operating their business on a basis satisfactory to them, and that the conduct of appellees damaged their business; individually, they also prayed for in-junctive relief. Pending the trial of the case on its merits, appellants prayed for a temporary injunction, restraining appel-lees from committing the acts charged against them, as constituting their cause of action for permanent relief on final judgment. On a "full hearing on the law and the facts, the prayer for the temporary injunction was refused, from which order this appeal was regularly prosecuted.

On authority of American Federation of Labor v. Roth W. Swing, 312 U.S. 321, 61 S.Ct. 568, 85 L.Ed. 855, appellants concede that appellees had the right to picket peacefully the store in Orange, owned and operated by The Fair, Inc., under the name of Green’s. We take the following definition of “peaceful picketing” from Senn v. Tile Layers Protective Union. Local No. 5, 301 U.S. 468, 57 S.Ct. 857, 862, 81 L.Ed. 1229: “Peaceful picketing * * * implies not only absence of violence, but absence of any unlawful act.”

The first point made by appellants is that appellees were not conducting the picket line in a peaceful manner. Much testimony was heard by the court on that issue. They contend that the court, on the undisputed evidence, erred in refusing them the relief prayed for.

The law vests the trial judge with a sound discretion in granting or refusing a temporary injunction, which will not be reviewed except upon a clear showing of abuse. Renfro v. Sperry, Tex.Civ.App., 134 S.W.2d 438; Harris County et al. v. Sam Bassett, Tex.Civ.App., 139 S.W.2d 180; Frels v. Consolidated Theatres, Tex. Civ.App., 134 S.W.2d 369. On the hearing, the judge is judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony as on trial on the merits, and where, as in the case at bar, no conclusions of law and fact were filed, every reasonable inference on the evidence must be indulged in support of the judgment. On a review of the testimony, we make the following statement as fact conclusions, which the court was authorized to make on the testimony before him and which, in support of his judgment, we conclude he in fact made.

The Union precipitated this controversy with The Fair, Inc., at the request of certain of the employees of The Fair, Inc., who had appealed to it for relief against inadequate wages and unsatisfactory working conditions, and who subsequently became members of the Union, prior to the hearing on appellants’ prayer for temporary injunction. On receipt of these written requests, the Union presented to The Fair, Inc., a closed shop contract for its execution. The Fair, Inc., not only refused to execute the contract as tendered but refused to negotiate with the Union on any sort of a contract, notwithstanding the Union was ready and willing to negotiate with The Fair, Inc., on all elements of the contract as presented to it for execution. The refusal to negotiate was peremptory.. The Fair, Inc., discharged certain of its employees on account of their union activities, whereupon the Union formed and maintained the picket line in front of Green’s, against which appellants sought the injunctive relief prayed for in this suit.

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Fair, Inc. v. Retail Clerks International Protective Ass'n, Local No. 131, 157 S.W.2d 716, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 1054 (Tex. Ct. App. 1941).

157 S.W.2d 716 (Fair, Inc. v. Retail Clerks International Protective Ass'n, Local No. 131) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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