Knisley v. Teamsters Local 654

680 F. Supp. 1064, 125 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3132, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13072, 1987 WL 44244
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedApril 17, 1987
DocketNo. C-3-86-575
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 680 F. Supp. 1064 (Knisley v. Teamsters Local 654) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knisley v. Teamsters Local 654, 680 F. Supp. 1064, 125 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3132, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13072, 1987 WL 44244 (S.D. Ohio 1987).

Opinion

DECISION AND ENTRY GRANTING DEFENDANT TEAMSTERS LOCAL 654’S MOTION TO DISMISS (DOC. # 5) AND GRANTING IN PART AND OVERRULING IN PART DEFENDANT WILLIAM E. BROCK’S MOTION TO DISMISS (DOC. # 8); PLAINTIFFS’ COMPLAINT AS AGAINST TEAMSTERS LOCAL 654 ORDERED DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE; CERTIFICATION AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 54 THAT JUDGMENT BE ENTERED IMMEDIATELY DISMISSING PLAINTIFFS’ COMPLAINT AS AGAINST DEFENDANT TEAMSTERS LOCAL 654; FURTHER PROCEDURES SET

RICE, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on Motions to Dismiss by Defendants Teamsters Local 654 [hereinafter Teamsters] (Doc. # 5) and Secretary of Labor William E. Brock [hereinafter the Secretary] (Doc. # 8). For the reasons set forth below, the Teamsters’ Motion to Dismiss is granted, while the Secretary’s Motion to Dismiss is granted in part and overruled in part.

A. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This case arises out of an election for Secretary-Treasurer, Trastee and Business Manager positions held by Teamsters Local 654 in February, 1986. According to Plaintiffs, the Local issued a notice announcing that a nominations meeting would be held on December 8, 1985 for that election, and that notice identified two ways for a candidate to be nominated: by written nomination signed by two current members and received by November 26, 1985 or by oral nomination at the meeting. Plaintiff Knisley decided to run on an opposition slate for the Business Manager position, along with James 0. Brown as a candidate for Trustee and Ronald Bowshier as a candidate for Secretary-Treasurer. The nominations for these opposition slate candidates were mailed to the Union on November 20,1985, but neither the opposition candidates nor their supporters attended the December 8, 1985 meeting. The day after the nominations meeting, Plaintiffs were allegedly told by the Local Union elections committee that they would not be permitted to ran because they had failed to comply with article XXII, section 4(a)(1) of the Teamsters’ Constitution, which permitted nominations to be made only at the nominations meeting. Plaintiff Knisley and the opposition slate candidates for Secretary-Treasurer and Trustee were thereupon not included on the election ballots.

Plaintiff Knisley appealed the disqualification of his nomination within the Union, and after receiving no response, he and the other two opposition slate candidates complained to the Department of Labor. In July, 1986, the Department decided that new elections should be held for Trustee and for Secretary-Treasurer under the Department’s supervision, but not for the office of Business Manager. In the reran elections for Trustee and Secretary-Treasurer, Plaintiffs’ candidate for Trustee lost, but their candidate for Secretary-Treasurer defeated the incumbent by a narrow margin. That election, however, was appealed by the incumbent, Don Hager, and was ordered rerun by the Secretary because the opposition slate candidate (Bow-shier) had received a hundred dollar campaign contribution from his cousin, a car dealer.

Plaintiffs have filed their Complaint in this case seeking either a court order mandating a new election for Business Manager or a determination by the Court that the Secretary acted arbitrarily and capriciously [1066]*1066in refusing to order a new Business Manager election.

B. DEFENDANT TEAMSTERS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

Turning first to Defendant Teamsters’ Motion to Dismiss the claims made against it, the Court finds that it lacks jurisdiction to order a new election for Business Manager under Title I of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (“LMRDA”). Accordingly, the Court finds that Plaintiffs’ Complaint as against Defendant Teamsters must be dismissed for want of subject matter jurisdiction, or in the alternative failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

In reaching this conclusion, the Court notes that the central issue presented by Plaintiffs’ Complaint as against Defendant Teamsters is whether, after an election has been held, Title I of the LMRDA permits a district court to order new elections for a union officer upon a finding of unequal treatment of particular union members in the election process. After review of the relevant authorities, the Court concludes that it lacks such authority-

In Furniture Movers Drivers v. Crowley, 467 U.S. 526, 104 S.Ct. 2557, 81 L.Ed.2d 457 (1984), the Supreme Court considered the issue of whether a suit under Title I of the LMRDA seeking invalidation of an election being conducted and court supervision of a new election could properly be maintained during the course of a union election. After a thorough review of the legislative history of Title I of the LMRDA, the Court concluded:

[Njothing in the flurry of activity that surrounded the enactment of Title I ... indicates that Congress intended that Title to reverse this consistent opposition to court supervision of union elections. Although the enactment of Title I offered additional protection to union members, including the establishment of various statutory safeguards effective during the course of a union election, there is no direct evidence to suggest that Congress believed that enforcement of Title I would either require or allow the courts to preempt the expertise of the Secretary and supervise their own elections.

Id. at 545-46, 104 S.Ct. at 2568. The Court set forth some of the reasoning underlying its reluctance to allow court supervised new elections in quoting testimony of Professor Archibald Cox before the Senate Subcommittee on Labor:

A court is ... a clumsy instrument for supervising an election. The judicial process may be suitable for determining the validity of an election which has already been held; but if it is found invalid, or if no election has been held, judges have few facilities for providing an effective remedy. Merely to order an election might turn the authority to conduct the balloting over to the very same officers whose misconduct gave rise to the litigation. The court has no tellers, watchers, or similar officials. It would become mired in the details of the electoral process. To appoint a master to supervise the election would delegate the responsibility, but the master would face many of the same problems as the judge.

Id. at 544 n. 19, 104 S.Ct. at 2567-68 n. 19 (quoting Labor-Management Reform Legislation: Hearings on S. 505 et al. before the Subcommittee on Labor of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, 96th Cong., 1st Sess., 133-134 (1959)). Moreover, the Crowley Court indicated that “Congress made suits by the Secretary under Title IV the exclusive post-election remedy for challenges to an election ‘(1) to protect unions from frivolous litigation and unnecessary judicial interference with their elections, and (2) to centralize in a single proceeding such litigation as might be warranted with respect to a single election.’ ” Id. at 549, 104 S.Ct. at 2570 (quoting Trbovich v. United Mine Workers, 404 U.S. 528, 532, 92 S.Ct. 630, 633, 30 L.Ed.2d 686 (1972)); see also Molina v. Union de Trabajadores de Mulles, 762 F.2d 166, 168 (1st Cir.1985) (“Crowley

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680 F. Supp. 1064, 125 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3132, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13072, 1987 WL 44244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knisley-v-teamsters-local-654-ohsd-1987.