Hostetler v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen

183 F. Supp. 281, 46 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2186, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3869
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedApril 27, 1960
DocketCiv. 9795 and 10136
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 183 F. Supp. 281 (Hostetler v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hostetler v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, 183 F. Supp. 281, 46 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2186, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3869 (D. Md. 1960).

Opinion

THOMSEN, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs in this consolidated case are trainmen, former employees of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company (B&O), who deliberately abandoned their membership in defendant Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT), stopped paying dues to that union, joined a rival union, Union of Railroad Operating Crafts (UROC), which is not “national in scope” as that term is used in 45 U.S. C.A. § 152, Eleventh (e), were cited to B&O by BRT for violation of the Union Shop Agreement, and were subsequently discharged by B&O. The Hostetler suit was filed on July 12, 1957, against BRT and its General Grievance Committee, referred to collectively herein as BRT; the Decker suit was filed on November 8, 1957, against BRT and B&O, but in May 1959, the Decker plaintiffs dismissed with prejudice their action against B&O.

Plaintiffs seek damages from BRT for procuring their discharge. They contend: I. That BRT discriminated against them in expelling them from the union and in citing them to B&O for violation of the Union Shop Agreement. II. That the Union Shop Agreement be *284 tween BRT and B&O was rendered illegal because after January 1, 1956, BRT used some dues money for political purposes; hence the Agreement could not justify BRT’s continued insistence that plaintiffs be discharged for non-payment of dues, despite the fact that such nonpayment and the expulsion and citation of plaintiffs therefor occurred between December 1951 and January 1954, before any dues money was used for political purposes.

I. Defendants deny any discrimination. II. They deny any improper use of dues; and deny that any such use, if it existed, would have rendered the Union Shop Agreement illegal, would have required BRT to withdraw its charges against plaintiffs, or would give plaintiffs any right to recover damages from BRT in this case. Defendants also rely on the following defenses: 1(A). The exclusive jurisdiction of the National Railway Adjustment Board (NRAB). 11(A). Lack of jurisdiction in this court over the second cause of action. Ill (A). Res adjudicata as to some or all plaintiffs by reason of (1) a previous case in this court, (2) the decisions of the NRAB in those cases submitted to it by B&O, and (3) the decisions of B&O’s appeal-hearing officer. III(B). Limitations, laches and estoppel.

Defendants have moved for summary judgment. I find that there is no genuine issue about the facts material to the decision of that motion; where there is any genuine dispute about any facts, they have been stated most favorably to plaintiffs.

On October 1, 1951, the Union Shop Agreement between B&O and BRT, as collective bargaining agent for certain employees of B&O, became effective. The Agreement was authorized by the Railway Labor Act, as amended in 1951, 64 Stat. 1238, 45 U.S.C.A. § 152, Eleventh (a) and (c).

Plaintiffs were already members of BRT or became members shortly thereafter. While maintenance of union membership was made “a condition of continued employment”, the statute as amended also provided that this condition would be satisfied “if said employee shall hold or acquire membership in any one of the labor organizations, national in scope, organized in accordance with this chapter and admitting to membership employees of a craft or class in any of said services”. 45 U.S.C.A. § 152, Eleventh (c).

On various dates between December 1951 and June 1953 plaintiffs withdrew from BRT and joined UROC. They stopped paying dues to BRT and were expelled from the union for that reason. Plaintiffs joined UROC, believing that it was “national in scope”, and that membership in UROC satisfied the condition specified in the statute. However, on February 25, 1957, the Supreme Court decided that UROC was not “national in scope” and was not “organized in accordance with” the statute. Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Rychlik, 352 U.S. 480, 77 S.Ct. 421, 1 L.Ed.2d 480.

BRT had always contended that membership in UROC was not a sufficient maintenance of union status to satisfy the statutory requirement and to protect plaintiffs’ employment by B&O. Accordingly, on various dates in 1952 to 1954, after plaintiffs had been expelled from BRT for non-payment of dues, BRT cited plaintiffs to B&O for failure to maintain union membership as required by the Union Shop Agreement. The usual notices were sent, hearings were demanded by each of the plaintiffs, and those hearings were held. In each case it was proved that the employee had voluntarily withdrawn from BRT, that he had ceased paying his dues, and that he had joined UROC. The hearings resulted in decisions adverse to plaintiffs, and all of them appealed. Appeal hearings, as provided for by the Agreement, were held in 1955, but the B&O appeals hearing officer delayed his decision until after the Supreme Court decided Rychlik. Thereupon, appeal decisions adverse to plaintiffs were rendered, and, since BRT continued to press for their discharge, *285 B&O discharged plaintiffs in April, May and June, 1957.

The reason for the discharge in each case was that the employee had stopped paying dues to and had ceased to be a member of BRT. The only issue raised by plaintiffs in the administrative proceedings was that membership in and payment of dues to UROC was a sufficient union membership to protect their employment by the railroad. The question of discrimination by BRT in expelling and citing plaintiffs was not raised, nor was any question with respect to the use of dues.

B&O submitted to NRAB the cases of all the employees who are now plaintiffs in the Decker case, and NRAB sustained the action of the B&O. Only one of the employees (Archie Lewis) appeared or filed any papers with NRAB, although all received due notice of the proceedings. B&O also submitted to NRAB the cases of some of the Hostetler plaintiffs, but withdrew those eases when all of the plaintiffs in the Hostetler case executed covenants not to sue B&O in consideration of $100 apiece paid by B&O, the agreement of B&O to reinstate the men in their jobs with seniority if BRT would consent, and the agreement of B&O to withdraw the cases of the Hostetler plaintiffs already submitted to NRAB and not to submit the cases of the other Hostetler plaintiffs.

I.

Discrimination in Expulsion from BRT and Citation to B&O

A. Jurisdiction over Claims for Damages for Discrimination

This court has jurisdiction to consider plaintiffs’ claims for damages against BRT based upon the alleged discrimination of the union in expelling them and citing them to B&O. Cunningham v. Erie R. Co., 2 Cir., 266 F.2d 411, 414; Latham v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 2 Cir., 274 F.2d 507; Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 323 U.S. 192, 65 S.Ct. 226, 89 L.Ed. 173; Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80; McNamar v. Baltimore & O. C. Term. R.

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Bluebook (online)
183 F. Supp. 281, 46 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2186, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hostetler-v-brotherhood-of-railroad-trainmen-mdd-1960.