Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Brosseau

286 F. 414, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1793
CourtDistrict Court, D. North Dakota
DecidedJanuary 8, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 286 F. 414 (Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Brosseau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. North Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Brosseau, 286 F. 414, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1793 (D.N.D. 1923).

Opinion

AMIDON, District Judge.

This is a suit brought by plaintiff against defendants to restrain them from threats and acts of violence in connection with the strike of the railway shop crafts which was started on July 1, 1922. A temporary restraining order was issued, and has been continued in force after a full hearing until quite recently, when a preliminary injunction was issued. A large number of affidavits and a considerable body of oral evidence has been introduced upon the question of plaintiff’s right to a preliminary injunction, and upon the several hearings in contempt proceedings for violations of the temporary restraining order. During the three months the case has been pending, and the different proceedings have been taken, the court has been called upon to investigate the law applicable to such a case, and a few matters that I have learned are of sufficient importance to justify their statement.

[1 ] Neither the restraining order nor the preliminary injunction prepared by counsel was signed by the court. During the 30 years that courts have been dealing with strikes by means of injunctions, these orders have steadily grown in length, complexity, and the vehemence of their rhetoric. They are full of the rich vocabulary of synonyms which is a part of our English language. They are also replete with superlative words and the superlative phrases of which the legal mind is fond. The result has been that such writs have steadily become more and more complex and prolix. All of this, it seems to me, is foreign to their legitimate purpose. They, like the proper bill in such cases, ought to arise out of the facts of each specific case. Injunctions are addressed to laymen. They ought to be so brief and plain that laymen can understand them. They ought to be framed in the fewest possible words. The order should not express the bias or violence of a party to such a controversy or his attorney. I therefore framed the orders in this case with these objects in view. The purpose ought to be to state the specific acts that .are forbidden. It also helps to show where the line separating wrong from right conduct lies, to state what acts are not forbidden. So I attempted to do that in the orders that were issued. A copy of the restraining part of the injunction will be found in the margin.1 The result has been that the strikers have been able to understand the orders, and have shown a keen desire to do so and obey them. The officers of the union in charge of the strike, and a great majority of the men, have joined with the peace officers in a sincere effort to conduct the strike in a lawful and orderly manner. A few cases of alleged disobedience have been brought to the attention of the court, but many of these upon a hearing have been found to be without [416]*416merit. I have been informed from time to time by deputy marshals who are stationed at each of the terminal points, that the strikers, with rare .exceptions, were sincerely desirous of obeying the orders of the court and conducting the strike in a lawful manner.

[2, 3] The experience both upon the hearings as to whether a preliminary injunction should issue, and upon the contempt proceedings, have convinced me that affidavits are an untrustworthy guide for judicial action. That is the case in all legal proceedings, but it is peculiarly true of litigation growing out of a strike, where feelings on both sides are necessarily wrought up, and the desire for victory is likely to obscure nice moral questions and poison the minds of men by prejudice. Many of the affidavits submitted on behalf of plaintiffs have been made by private detectives or guards. As a class they are overzealous, through their desire to prove to the detective bureaus that they are efficient, and to the railway company that they are indispensable. Speaking generally, such detectives are mostly drawn from a class of people in large cities which would cause little credence to he given to their statements in ordinary litigation. The evidence that has come to me from wholly trustworthy sources in the present case satisfies me that the sooner public police officers are substituted for such private detectives, the better it will be for all parties concerned in strikes.

Early after the suit was brought, one or more deputy marshals were stationed at each of the terminal points of railway companies in- the state. They were selected from civil life, and were wholly disconnected from either of the parties to the strike. They were men of mature years, good sense, and courage. I am satisfied that these officers have done more to maintain law and order than any other single influence. These public officers have been of great service to the court, in giving it disinterested reports as to all conflicts that have arisen.

Experience, as I have stated, has caused me to be so incredulous of affidavits that I have required in all important matters the presence of the chief witnesses upon each side at the hearing. These witnesses have been subjected to oral examination. The court has had a chance to observe their demeanor. A comparison of the picture produced by their testimony with that produced by their affidavits has proven the utter untrustworthiness of affidavits. Such documents are packed with falsehoods, or with half-truths, which in such a matter ere more deceptive than deliberate falsehoods.

The most serious complaint that can be made against injunctions, which have become so prominent a part of the law in dealing with strikes in the United States, is the fact that courts have become accustomed to decide the most important questions of fact, often involving the citizen’s liberty, upon this wholly untrustworthy class of proof.

In England, the acts which American courts are accustomed to restrain have been made crimes in the Conspiracy Statute of 1875 and its amendments. There injunctions have completely ceased in the-theater of strikes. The acts having been made criminal, any party who is guilty of doing them is promptly arrested, tried, and, if found guilty, punished. If either party seeks an appeal in such a case, the appeal is heard inside of 30 days. The evidence is never printed, but a type[417]*417written copy of it is certified up to the appellate court. The controverted questions of fact, if there be any, are usually reduced to a single point or two by experienced counsel, and the evidence itself is only looked at by the court in case counsel are unable to agree upon the facts. As a rule these criminal appeals are there disposed of in a few days after a judgment of guilty has been pronounced. In the most important cases the appeal is heard within 30 days, and final judgment rendered. There is no reason why a similarly prompt practice should not be established in our courts.

The Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads are both transcontinental lines passing entirely across this state.- They both have numerous branch lines. The Northern Pacific has three terminal yards and repair points, and the Great Northern five. The Great Northern brought the present suit, and has had injunctive relief restraining the defendants in accordance with the provisions that are usually employed in such writs. The Northern Pacific has brought no suit, and has no injunctions. I have been kept as well informed by deputy marshals in the case of the Northern.Pacific as in that of the Great Northern. I think, on the whole, there has been no material difference as to violation of the railway company’s rights on the two lines.

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Bluebook (online)
286 F. 414, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1793, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-northern-ry-co-v-brosseau-ndd-1923.