Irving Subway Grating Co. v. Silverman

117 F. Supp. 671
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedDecember 22, 1953
DocketCiv. 13877
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 117 F. Supp. 671 (Irving Subway Grating Co. v. Silverman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Irving Subway Grating Co. v. Silverman, 117 F. Supp. 671 (E.D.N.Y. 1953).

Opinion

BRUCHHAUSEN, District Judge.

The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint and to dissolve the injunction granted by the New York State Court upon the ground that the granting of relief as prayed for in the complaint constituted a violation of the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act of 1947, Title 29 U.S.C.A. § 151, commonly called The Taft-Hartley Act. The plaintiff by cross-motion demanded that the case be remanded to the State Court.

The action originated in the State Court, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and was removed to this Court upon the petition of the defendants, wherein they claimed, in substance, that the action involved a federal question and was removable under Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1441. The plaintiff contends that the action should be remanded, pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1447, upon the grounds that the aforesaid removal was improvident and without jurisdiction.

Both motions raised the question of the jurisdiction of this Court as to the action.

The plaintiff, a manufacturer of steel flooring products, commenced this action in the said State Court against the defendants, officers and members of a labor organization, and demanded an injunction, restraining the defendants from committing alleged tortious acts, and damages in connection therewith. Shortly prior to the removal of the case to this Court, the plaintiff procured a temporary injunction in the New York State Supreme Court which was continued by the Appellate Division, Second Department.

It is essential that the allegations of the complaint be examined and considered for a proper determination of the jurisdictional question.

The plaintiff, in the complaint, alleges in substance that it is a New York corporation, engaged in a business substantially affecting interstate commerce as defined by the National Labor Relations Act of 1947, as amended, that the defendant is a labor union, known as Local 810, Steel, Metal, Alloys and Hardware Fabricators and Warehousemen, Affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, A. F. of L. (hereinafter called uncertified Local 810), that the plaintiff has had a collective bargaining agreement with a union known as Local 2504 of the United Steelworkers of America, that the said Local 2504 is the certified *673 union of employees of the plaintiff, 'for collective bargaining purposes (which latter union is hereinafter called certified Local 2504), that pursuant to the said certification, the plaintiff, in 1941, entered into a collective bargaining agreement with certified Local 2504 concerning the terms and conditions of employment in its plant, that the agreement was renewed from time to time until October 20, 1952, at which time the plaintiff entered into a second agreement with the said certified Local 2504, which latter agreement terminated on October 1, 1953, and was renewed by written agreement, dated August 17, 1953, that on August 13, 1953, at 7:30 A.M., representatives of uncertified Local 810, including the individual defendants, appeared at the gates of the plaintiff’s Long Island City plant urging its employees not to report for work, that some of the said representatives carried picket signs, alleging unfair practices on the part of the plaintiff with respect to the defendant uncertified Local 810, that these acts were deliberately performed with the purpose of confusing the plaintiff’s employees and caused them to return home on that day, resulting in an interruption of business, that these practices were continued the following day, August 14, 1953, on which day, certified Local 2504 held its union meeting and instructed its representatives to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the plaintiff, that the agreement was consummated, that on August 18, 1953, uncertified Local 810 filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board asking that it be certified as the bargaining agent of the plaintiff’s employees, that a few days thereafter uncertified Local 810 also filed unfair labor practice charges against the plaintiff, that on August 26, 1953, the plaintiff filed unfair labor practice charges against uncertified Local 810, which charges are now pending and that the National Labor Relations Board advised the plaintiff to seek injunctive relief in the State Court. Thus, both the plaintiff and the defendants have charged each other with unfair labor practices, as defined in the said National Labor Relations Act. !

The plaintiff further alleges, in paragraph twenty-sixth of the complaint; that, in the process of such activities, the defendants wilfully, maliciously, and with intent to interfere, injure and damage the plaintiff’s business, trade, property and goodwill and employee relations, have regularly, systematically and recurrently engaged in unlawful conduct and activities, summarized as follows:

a. Picketing in front of the plant.
b. Mass picketing, including molesting, coercion, threats.
c. Using insulting, degrading, profane language.
d. Trailing employees on the streets, and to their homes, assaulting them, threatening physical violence to them and their families.
e. Exhorting others not to haul and deliver for plaintiff.
f. Approaching, molesting, frightening, intimidating, coercing by violence, and by fraudulent and misleading statements to employees of the railroads and barge workers, designed to induce them to refrain from servicing plaintiff.
g. Picketing by organizers, including the defendants, to promote the alleged conduct.
h. Urging plaintiff’s employees not to report for work at plaintiff’s plant, urging them to break their contract with plaintiff.
X. Inducing employees at plaintiff’s Long Island City plant to remain away from work, strike and receive “strike benefits”.

The plaintiff also alleges that all of the said acts were and are designed for the purpose of coercing it to recognize the defendants’ union as the collective bargaining agent for the plaintiff’s employees without an election, and despite the fact that a petition for certification on behalf of uncertified Local 810 is cur *674 •rently before the National Labor Relations Board. The plaintiff, in the second cause of action, charges that the defendants and others conspired to accomplish the aforementioned purpose through the said acts. Injunctive relief is sought by the third cause of action. Judgments for damages are demanded in the other causes of action.

In brief, the plaintiff (a New York resident) claims that it has a collective bargaining agreément with certified Local 2504, that it is being interfered with and conspired against by uncertified Local 810 and others (also New York residents) by acts of violence, that unfair labor practices, as defined by the National Labor Relations Act, are involved, that the plaintiff has complained to the Board, respecting such practices and that uncertified Local 810 has also complained to the Board. The plaintiff instituted this action in the State Court (later removed to this Court) for injunctive relief and damages, based on alleged violations of State law, which may also constitute .a violation of 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b) (1), (4) (A, C).

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Bluebook (online)
117 F. Supp. 671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/irving-subway-grating-co-v-silverman-nyed-1953.