Garner ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. MacClenny Products, Inc.

859 F. Supp. 1478, 146 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3032, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15743
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 25, 1994
DocketNo. 94-604-Civ-J-20
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 859 F. Supp. 1478 (Garner ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. MacClenny Products, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garner ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. MacClenny Products, Inc., 859 F. Supp. 1478, 146 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3032, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15743 (M.D. Fla. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER

SCHLESINGER, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on a Petition for Injunction Under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, as Amended (“the Act”) (Doc. No. 1, filed June 23, 1994). On July 12, 1994, Respondent filed a Memorandum of Law in opposition (Doc. No. 15) and an Answer (Doc. No. 14).

On July 15, 1994, the Court heard oral argument from the parties on the Petition. The Court also heard argument from the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, AFL-CIO (“the Union”), whom the Court granted leave to appear as amicus curiae.

Respondent operates a clothing manufacturing facility in Macclenny, Florida (“the facility”), which is engaged in the business of cutting and distributing men’s tailored wear. During 1993, the Union attempted to secure the support of the facility’s employees for the purpose of being selected by the employees [1480]*1480as their bargaining representative. At one point in the fall of 1993, a majority of the employees within the alleged collective bargaining unit signed authorization cards designating and selecting the Union as their representative for collective bargaining with Respondent. On December 10, 1993, a formal election was held, at which election 58 votes were cast in favor of the Union, and 56 against. There were twelve challenged ballots, which are determinative of the outcome of the election.

The Union filed unfair labor practice charges against Respondent with the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) on January 11, 1994, which charges remain pending.1 The Union alleges that Respondent, from on or about October, 1993, to on or about December 10, 1993, violated of Sections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the Act. The Petition filed in this Court was brought on behalf of the Board for an injunction pursuant to Section 10(j) of the Act, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 160(j). In relevant part, the Act provides that:

The Board shall have the power, upon issuance of a complaint as provided in subsection (b) of this section charging that any person has engaged in or is engaging in an unfair labor practice, to petition any United States district court, within any district wherein the unfair labor practice is alleged to have occurred or wherein such person resides or transacts business, for appropriate temporary relief or restraining order. Upon the filing of any such petition the court shall cause notice thereof to be served upon such person, and thereupon shall have jurisdiction to grant to the Board such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper.

29 U.S.C. 160(j). As the court of appeals has stated, such interim relief “is sometimes necessary in order to preserve the Board’s remedial power,” as the underlying administrative process often “moves slowly.” Arlook v. S. Lichtenberg & Co., 952 F.2d 367, 369 (11th Cir.1992).

Lichtenberg sets forth the applicable standards. A district court may grant in-junctive relief under Section 10(j) only when two criteria are met. Adapting precedent from the former Fifth Circuit, the court of appeals held that a district court should grant such an injunction only when the Board (not the Court) has “ ‘reasonable cause’ to believe that labor violations have occurred and only when equitable relief is ‘just and proper.’ ” Id. at 369 (quoting Boire v. Pilot Freight Carriers, Inc., 515 F.2d 1185, 1189 (5th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 934, 96 S.Ct. 2646, 49 L.Ed.2d 385 (1976), and Boire v. International Bhd. of Teamsters, 479 F.2d 778, 787 (5th Cir.1973)). This standard is markedly different from the usual four-part test which a district court in this Circuit applies before issuing such similar extraordinary relief as a preliminary injunction. See Bryan v. Hall Chemical Co., 993 F.2d 831, 835 (11th Cir.1993).

Reasonable Cause

In evaluating whether there is “reasonable cause” to believe that labor violations have occurred, the district court is limited to “evaluating whether the Board’s ‘theories of fact and law are not insubstantial and frivolous.’ ” Lichtenberg, 952 F.2d at 371 (quoting Pilot Freight, 515 F.2d at 1189). The Board must present enough evidence in support of a “substantial, nonfrivolous, coherent legal theory of the labor violation” which would allow a rational factfinder to rule in the Board’s favor, after considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the Board. Lichtenberg, 952 F.2d at 371. As the court of appeals warned in Lichtenberg, it is not the duty of the district court to determine whether in fact the Section 10(j) respondent has violated the Act. Id. at 372. Rather, the court must limit its inquiry to whether the evidence placed before the court might permit a rational factfinder to “eventually rule in favor of the Board.'’ Id. at 373.

Just and Proper

Injunctive relief under Section 10(j) is “just and proper” whenever the facts demon[1481]*1481strate to the court that, without such relief, “any final order of the Board will be meaningless or so devoid of force that the remedial purposes of the Act will be frustrated.” Pilot Freight, 515 F.2d at 1192. In Lichten-berg the court of appeals expressly declined to list any requisite factors for the district court’s equitable determination. However, the court did state criteria used by other courts where Section 10(j) relief had been deemed “just and proper.” Factors relevant to other courts’ determinations were: (1) susceptibility of organizational efforts to unfair labor practices; (2) pre-Petition damage, if any, to union and employees from probable labor violations; and (3) likelihood of repetition of prior violations in absence of the sought injunction. See Lichtenberg, 952 F.2d at 372.

Contrary to Respondent’s assertion in its Memorandum of Law filed in opposition to the instant Petition, the court of appeals did not list the above factors “in the conjunctive” as some sort of constituent checklist, each element of which a Section 10(j) petitioner is required to establish. Indeed, the panel in Lichtenberg specifically declined to “delineate an entire list of factors.” 952 F.2d at 372. In listing instances where other courts found this “just and proper” requirement, the court of appeals could have used the word “or” instead of the word “and,” as the court was merely reciting examples of other courts’ holdings. Therefore, while the three aforementioned factors may be relevant and highly instructive in the instant determination of whether injunctive relief is “just and proper,” Petitioner is not required to establish any or all of these elements.

Discussion

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859 F. Supp. 1478, 146 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3032, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garner-ex-rel-national-labor-relations-board-v-macclenny-products-inc-flmd-1994.