Irving v. Neal

209 F. 471, 1913 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1121
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 6, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 209 F. 471 (Irving v. Neal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.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 v. Neal, 209 F. 471, 1913 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1121 (S.D.N.Y. 1913).

Opinion

WARD, Circuit Judge.

On April 30, 1910, this suit was brought by the complainants, citizens of Massachusetts, against the Joint District Council of New York and Vicinity of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which Joint Council is a voluntary unincorporated association, and also against certain individuals who were members of the United Brotherhood and all of whom were either officers of the. Joint District Council or of the United Brotherhood. Jurisdiction depends upon citizenship. . The bill has been dismissed against the Joint District Council, because it is a voluntary association, and not a citizen of any state, but sustained against the other defendants connected with the Joint District Council, because they are citizens of New York, and against the two remaining individual defendants, officers of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, who; although citizens of Indiana, have voluntarily appeared; 180 Fed. 896.

The bill alleges that the United Brotherhood is an unincorporated association, having affiliated with it over 1,900 local unions, composed of carpenters and joiners, aggregating some 170,000 members in the United States; that there are 70 of these local unions within the limits of the city of Greater New York, which, with certain branches of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of America, have formed .the Joint District Council of New York City and Vicinity, composed of delegates from the local unions and branches aforesaid; that this Joint District Council has power, under the rules of the United Brotherhood, to adopt regulations concerning strikes and thé use of any material which it declares “unfair”; that it has made rules giving the business agents authority to call strikes, and has provided a penalty of $10 against any member who works on “unfair” trim—that is, woodwork made in a nonunion shop.

The bill then alleges that the complainants carry on an open shop for manufacturing fine interior woodwork or trim, in Massachusetts, and that the United Brotherhood, the Joint District Council, and the other defendants have entered into a combination to destroy their business and to prevent them from selling or installing their trim outside of Massachusetts until they operate their mill in Massachusetts as a closed or union shop; that, in pursuance of such conspiracy, the defendants have, among other things, put the complainants on “unfair” lists distributed to builders, architects, and owners, and have omitted their names from lists of “fair” shops circulated in the same manner, together with a letter sáying that the employment of these shops' will avoid labor troubles; have written letters to builders, architects, and [473]*473owners asking them not to contract with the complainants, because they are an “unfair” concern; have threatened and called strikes of various trades working upon buildings where the complainants’ trim was being installed.

The prayer for relief is as follows:

“That the defendants * * * he restrained and enjoined from conspiring, agreeing, or combining in any manner to restrain, obstruct, interfere with, or destroy the-business of the complainants, and from interfering in any manner with the complainants obtaining orders or contracts for work or materials or interfering in any manner with the sale or disposition of the product of the complainants’ factory, or the installation or setting of any of the product of the complainants’ factory upon any building or buildings and from publishing, circulating, or otherwise communicating either directly or indirectly in writing or orally to each other or to any other person Arm, or corporation any statement or notice' of any kind or character whatsoever calling attention to the fact that your complainants or their business or their products are or were or have been declared unfair or are on any unfair list, or that your complainants should not be patronized or dealt with or their products purchased, used, handled, worked upon, or dealt in because made in an open or nonunion shop, and from publishing, circulating, or communicating either orally or in writing any representation or statement of like effect or import for the purpose of injuring or interfering with or tending to injure or interfere with the complainant’s business or with the free and unrestricted right of the complainants to dispose of their product and to obtain contracts for work to be performed or orders or contracts for merchandise to be made, installed, or set by them, and from giving notice verbally or in writing to any person, firm, or corporation to refrain from soliciting, making, or carrying out contracts with complainants for services to be performed or merchandise to be made, or to refrain from purchasing or attempting to purchase materials of any sort from complainants under threats that if such contracts or purchases are made or carried out they will cause the persons so notified loss or trouble, or that they will cause persons in the employ of said persons so notified to withdraw from their employment, or that they will cause persons employed by others upon buildings where said persons so notified are doing work to withdraw from all work upon said building, and from inducing or attempting to induce any person or persons whomsoever to decline employment or cease employment or not to seek employment under any person, firm, or corporation because such persons, firm; or corporation may have made contracts or purposed to make contracts with complainants or may have purchased or purposed to purchase materials from the complainants, or because materials furnished by the plaintiff were being used on or in connection with' some building where said persons were doing work, and from in any way inducing or attempting to induce any person or persons to refuse to install or work upon materials manufactured by your complainants, and from enforcing or attempting to enforce or threatening to inflict any injury, loss penalty or liability, whether in the nature of a fine, or suspension, or expulsion from any labor organization or otherwise against any person who works for your complainants or upon materials furnished by your complainants, or against any person who works for any employer who purchases materials from youi’ complainants, or against any person who works upon any building where the materials of complainants are being installed or are about to be installed, and from making, communicating, or circulating any statement orally or in writing that the defendant or members of any union, or working men will refuse to work upon any materials unless said materials are constructed under strict union conditions, and from requesting customers, or those who might become customers, of the. complainants, to purchase their wood materials from or have their woodwork done by persons or corporations who use the union label of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America or who operate their factories according to the rules and regulations of said Brotherhood, so that no controversy or difficulty can arise on account of nonunion woodwork and from using said label to obstruct and interfere [474]*474with the complainants’ business and from combining, conspiring, and confederating together to refuse to work upon materials unless they are made under strict union conditions and from publishing, circulating, enforcing, and attempting to enforce the provisions of section 52-C of ' the by-laws of the District Council of New York and Vicinity, which is as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
209 F. 471, 1913 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/irving-v-neal-nysd-1913.