Jones v. Trotter

327 S.W.2d 120, 1959 Mo. LEXIS 736, 44 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2875
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedSeptember 14, 1959
DocketNo. 47014
StatusPublished

This text of 327 S.W.2d 120 (Jones v. Trotter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Trotter, 327 S.W.2d 120, 1959 Mo. LEXIS 736, 44 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2875 (Mo. 1959).

Opinion

BARRETT, Commissioner.

Marguerite M. Lockwood and her son-in-law, Harold M. Jones, are partners and operate the Model Bakery in Columbia. They are the plaintiffs and appellants in this action to permanently enjoin the defendants from picketing their place of business. The respondents are three or four of the plaintiffs’ former employees, some of whom are members of the union, the business representative of the union and the American Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union, Local 235. After a full hearing the trial court entered a general judgment denying the claim and prayer for a permanent injunction and the plaintiffs have appealed to this court.

This is the appellants’ unbriefed jurisdictional statement: “That the action is one for an injunction to prohibit defendants from peacefully picketing plaintiffs’ place of business for the purpose of forcing plaintiffs to sign a union shop collective bargaining contract and hence involves a construction of Article I, Section 29 of the Constitution of Missouri, 1945 [V.A.M.S.], and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.” In the circumstances of this record the statement is inadequate even though a technical compliance with Rule 1.08. See note and illustrative comment to amended Rule 1.08, 42 V.A. M.S. supp., p. 4, and Jameson v. Fox, 364 Mo. 237, 260 S.W.2d 507, 58 A.L.R.2d 80. The court, nevertheless, has read and considered the record for the sole purpose of determining whether for any reason this court has jurisdiction of the appeal. In two if not more cases, American Hotel Co. of Mo. v. Bartenders’ International League of America, Mo., 297 S.W.2d 411 and Bellerive Country Club v. McVey, 365 Mo. 477, 284 S.W.2d 492, this court has retained, unchallenged, jurisdiction in similar circumstances on the theory, apparently, that they involved the “construction” (Const.Mo., Art. 5, Sec. 3) of that clause of the constitution which guarantees to employees “the right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing.” Const.Mo., Art. 1 Sec. 29. Notwithstanding, in the precise circumstances of this record and for the reasons to be noted, it plainly appears that this appeal does not involve the construction of section 29, article 1, of our constitution or the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and, therefore, jurisdiction of this appeal is properly in the Kansas City Court of Appeals. Const.Mo., Art. 5, Secs. 1, 4, 11, 13.

For the purposes of discrimination and by illustration to precisely point up the problem presented here certain distinguishing circumstances should be briefly noted. In the first place, the injunction was denied, the defendants (the union and its members) were not “aggrieved by any judgment” (V.A.M.S., Sec. 512.020) and of course did not appeal and we are not directly concerned with whether their rights to organize and collectively bargain have been infringed. In the cases in which injunctions have been granted and unions have appealed jurisdiction has properly been in this court because the appellants have asserted that their right to freedom of speech had been infringed and due process had been denied under both the state and feder[122]*122al constitutions. Heath v. Motion Picture Machine Operators Union No. 170, 365 Mo. 934, 290 S.W.2d 152; Katz Drug Co. v. Kavner, Mo., 249 S.W.2d 166. Here the decree was in favor of the defendants and as to them due process is not a live question. Robinson v. Nick, 345 Mo. 305, 134 S.W.2d 112. In Quinn v. Buchanan, Mo., 298 S.W.2d 413, the appellant union members claimed in excess of $30,000 damages on the theory that the defendant had invaded or violated their right to organize and collectively bargain. In City of Springfield v. Clouse, 356 Mo. 1239, 206 S.W.2d 539, both parties appealed and the question for decision was whether under section 29 the municipality, owning a public utility, could collectively bargain with its employees. This case is a classic illustration of an appeal’s directly involving the construction as well as the application of section 29, article 1, of the constitution. Subsequently, in a suit between the same parties, Glidewell v. Hughey, Mo., 314 S.W.2d 749, the appeal involved, in addition to section 29, the constitutionality of the King-Thompson Act and, of course, jurisdiction of the cause was in this court. The appellants do not challenge the defendants’ abstractly declared right to organize or to collectively bargain, they claim that the defendants do not represent their employees and that what they have done is contrary to public policy and unlawful. The Model Bakery is not engaged in interstate commerce and we are not concerned with whether the case involves the construction of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., or the National Labor Management Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq. and whether that fact, in addition to a claim of unlawful union conduct, has anything to do with this court’s appellate jurisdiction. Compare: Swift & Co. v. Doe, Mo., 311 S.W.2d 15, and Graybar Electric Co. v. Automotive, Petroleum & Allied Industries Employees Union Local 618, 365 Mo. 753, 287 S.W.2d 794; Jack Cooper Transport Co. v. Stufflebeam, 365 Mo. 250, 280 S.W.2d 832; Fred Wolferman, Inc., v. Root, 356 Mo. 976, 204 S.W.2d 733, 174 A.L.R. 585.

In the plaintiffs’ petition there is no specific invocation of any constitutional right, the identity and relationship of the parties are set forth, the defendants’ demand that the plaintiffs sign a union contract is alleged and the fact of the picketing is set forth, all of which is said to be unlawful. In general, the prayer for relief is for $1,000 damages and that the defendants be enjoined from entering or obstructing the entrance to the plaintiffs’ place of business and particularly that they be enjoined from picketing and from threatening or coercing plaintiffs’ employees. In their motion for a new trial there are, among others, these wholly uninformative and inadequate assignments : “1. Because the court did not follow the existing case law, the Statutes or the Constitution of the State of Missouri and the judgment of the court is against the law. * * * 3.

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Related

Bellerive Country Club v. McVey
284 S.W.2d 492 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1955)
Quinn v. Buchanan
298 S.W.2d 413 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1957)
Jameson v. Fox
260 S.W.2d 507 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1953)
State v. Sappington
260 S.W.2d 669 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1953)
Polizzi v. Nedrow
247 S.W.2d 809 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1952)
Adams Dairy, Inc. v. Burke
293 S.W.2d 281 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1956)
Swift & Company v. Doe
311 S.W.2d 15 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1958)
Heath v. Motion Picture MacHine Operators Union No. 170
290 S.W.2d 152 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1956)
Katz Drug Co. v. Kavner
249 S.W.2d 166 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1952)
Glidewell v. Hughey
314 S.W.2d 749 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1958)
Jack Cooper Transport Company v. Stufflebeam
280 S.W.2d 832 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1955)
Barber v. Time, Inc.
159 S.W.2d 291 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1942)
Robinson v. Nick
134 S.W.2d 112 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1939)
F. C. Church Shoe Co. v. Turner
279 S.W. 232 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1926)
City of Springfield v. Clouse
206 S.W.2d 539 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1947)
Fred Wolferman, Inc. v. Root
204 S.W.2d 733 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1947)
Junkins v. Local Union No. 6313, Communication Workers of America
263 S.W.2d 337 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1954)
Kerkemeyer v. Midkiff
281 S.W.2d 516 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1955)

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Bluebook (online)
327 S.W.2d 120, 1959 Mo. LEXIS 736, 44 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-trotter-mo-1959.