LeSabre Corp. v. Barnette

411 So. 2d 739, 1982 La. App. LEXIS 6969
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 10, 1982
DocketNo. 8705
StatusPublished

This text of 411 So. 2d 739 (LeSabre Corp. v. Barnette) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LeSabre Corp. v. Barnette, 411 So. 2d 739, 1982 La. App. LEXIS 6969 (La. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

CULPEPPER, Judge.

This is a suit to enjoin illegal picketing activities. The plaintiff, LeSabre Corporation, is the general contractor for the construction of a plant for United Gas Pipeline Company in Natchitoches Parish. The defendants were employed by plaintiff as welders. Plaintiff alleged these defendants walked off the job after a salary dispute, and that they were maintaining a picket line at the plant entrance and were carrying ax handles and harassing and threatening other employees and suppliers of materials who attempted to enter the plant. Pursuant to plaintiff’s petition, the trial judge granted a temporary restraining order without a hearing, and thereafter granted a preliminary injunction in essentially the same form and substance. The defendants appealed.

The substantial issues are whether the trial judge erred in issuing the temporary restraining order and the preliminary injunction without following the procedures described in LSA-R.S. 23:844 (the Little Norris-LaGuardia Act).

The record shows that on August 6,1981, plaintiff filed a petition alleging that defendants were maintaining a picket line at the entrance to the plant, that they were carrying ax handles and harassing and threatening other employees as they arrived at or left the plant, that defendants were threatening bodily harm to any workers who attempted to cross the picket line and [740]*740threatening to burn down their houses or harm their families, that defendants were wielding firearms and threatening to use them against other workers, that other workers and suppliers of materials were afraid to enter the plant for fear of harm, that these activities went far beyond the rights of the defendants to peacefully and orderly picket, that if defendants were allowed to pursue their course of conduct it would cause irreparable damage to plaintiff’s business and result in serious bodily harm or property damage to other workers, that accordingly it was necessary that the court enjoin the defendants from such illegal activities, that petitioner feared that during the pendency of these proceedings the defendants would continue their conduct and it was necessary that a temporary restraining order issue immediately and that after a hearing a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction issue to the same effect. Without a hearing, the trial judge issued on August 6, 1981 a temporary restraining order enjoining defendants from:

“A. Appearing at the premises of United Gas Pipeline Company and disrupting business.
“B. Threatening to cause harm to workers, suppliers or any other persons connected with United Gas Pipeline Company and their families.”

The court further ordered that defendants show cause on the 11th day of August, 1981 why a preliminary writ of injunction should not issue in the form and substance of the temporary restraining order.

On August 7, 1981, defendants filed a motion to recall the temporary restraining order on the grounds that this was a labor dispute and plaintiff had not followed the procedure in LSA-R.S. 23:841-844, which requires 48-hour notice, a hearing, the furnishing of bond, etc. The hearing on the motion to recall was set for August 11, 1981, the same day as the hearing on the preliminary injunction.

At the beginning of the hearing on August 11, 1981, counsel for defendants requested a ruling on his motion to recall the temporary restraining order, to which the court responded that the motion to recall had become moot since the purpose of the temporary restraining order was to prevent personal injury or criminal activities until the hearing on the preliminary injunction, which hearing was being held that day. Accordingly, the trial judge denied the motion to recall the temporary restraining order and proceeded with the hearing on the preliminary injunction.

After the hearing, the court dictated into the record on the same day his findings of fact as follows:

“The Court finds that this is a labor dispute. There’s no evidence of malicious damage to any of the property of the LaSabre Corporation. There’s been no testimony that any of the employees, customers or the vendors have been either assaulted or battered by the persons on the picket line. Nor has there been any evidence that the pickets were harassed or assaulted or battered in any way by the management. The Court believes that there were axe or pick handles on the picket line. I believe that Mr. Harrison and Mr. Wortman have moved their families, because they fear for their safety. I also firmly believe in the right to peaceably assemble and make known grievances growing out of labor disputes. The ruling of the Court is that the right to picket is specifically recognized. The carrying of axe or pick handles, or any type of weapon, on the picket line is enjoined. There’s been no evidence that the pickets have trespassed on the property of United Gas. Therefore, the injunction on that issue is not shown to be necessary and is denied. So, the ultimate of it is that the picketing may continue, so long as there are no weapons on the picket line, and the only thing that is enjoined is the carrying of axe handles or anything else, which may be used as a weapon.”

Pursuant to these reasons by the trial judge, a formal judgment was signed issuing a preliminary injunction restraining defendants “from carrying or possessing axe [741]*741handles, firearms, or any other weapon at or in close proximity to the premises of the United Gas Pipeline Company Plant located on Placid Oil Road in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.”

The statute in question, LSA-R.S. 23:841, et seq., has its source in Act 203 of 1934, referred to as the “Little Norris-LaGuardia Act”, which is modeled after the Federal Act of the same name. The obvious purpose of the act was to limit the power of the courts in the granting of injunctions in labor disputes. Of particular pertinence to the present case is the following portion of the act:

“§ 844. Injunctions and restraining orders, grounds for issuance; proof required
No court shall issue a temporary or permanent injunction in any case involving or growing out of a labor dispute, as herein defined, except after hearing the testimony of witnesses in open court, with opportunity for cross-examination, in support of the allegations of a complaint made under oath, and testimony in opposition thereto, if offered, and except after findings of fact by the court to the effect:
(1) That unlawful acts have been threatened or committed and will be executed or continued unless restrained;
(2) That substantial and irreparable injury to complainant’s property will follow unless the relief requested is granted;
(3) That as to each item of relief granted greater injury will be inflicted upon complainant by the denial thereof than will be inflicted upon the defendants by the granting thereof;
(4) That no item of relief granted is relief that a court has no authority to restrain or enjoin under R.S. 23:841;
(5) That complainant has no adequate remedy by ordinary legal procedure; and
(6) That the public officers charged with the duty to protect complainant’s property have failed or are unable to furnish adequate protection.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
411 So. 2d 739, 1982 La. App. LEXIS 6969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lesabre-corp-v-barnette-lactapp-1982.