Local 1516, International Longshoremen's Ass'n v. United States

451 F. Supp. 685, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17529
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Alabama
DecidedMay 25, 1978
DocketCiv. A. No. 78-135-H
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 451 F. Supp. 685 (Local 1516, International Longshoremen's Ass'n v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Local 1516, International Longshoremen's Ass'n v. United States, 451 F. Supp. 685, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17529 (S.D. Ala. 1978).

Opinion

HAND, District Judge.

This matter is presently submitted for the Court’s consideration of the government’s motion to dismiss which the Court has chosen to treat as a motion for summary judgment. The Court has considered the record in this case, the memoranda of law and oral arguments advanced by counsel for all parties, together with the applicable law, and finds as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The plaintiff in this case, I.L.A. Local 1516, is a labor organization within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, Title 29, U.S.C.A., §§ 2(4) & (5).1 The plaintiff-intervenor, Isom Clemon, is and was at all times relevant to this action, the business agent of Local 1516 and one of the trustees of the vacation and pension plans of the Mobile Banana Handlers. The defendant United States of America is sued on the basis of conduct carried on by its [686]*686agents in the Department of Justice acting within the line and scope of their authority.

2. Intervenor Clemon was indicted on August ■ 19, 1977 on thirty-five counts of embezzling approximately $9,000.00 in funds from I.L.A. Local 1410 in violation of Title 29, U.S.C.A., § 501(c), which provides that:

Any person who embezzles, steals or unlawfully and willfully abstracts or converts to his own use, or the use of another, any of the moneys, funds, securities, property, or other assets of a labor organization of which he is an officer, or by which he is employed, directly or indirectly, shall be fined not more than $10,000.00 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

After an initial plea of not guilty at his arraignment on August 25, 1977, Clemon changed his plea to nolo contendere on thirty-four counts on December 30, 1977, and the government dismissed the other count. This Court accepted the plea pursuant to Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, entered a judgment of conviction, and sentenced Clemon to serve five years on each of the thirty-four counts to be served concurrently, with imposition of sentence suspended and a probationary period of five years ordered. Additionally, Clemon was required to pay a fine of $5,000.00 during the probationary period. This conviction and sentence imposed thereon were not appealed.

3. By two letters dated February 16, 1978, both Clemon and Local '1516 President Theodore Boggs were informed by Philip Wilens of the United States Department of Justice that the Department viewed Clem-on’s conviction as a bar to demon’s continued service as an “officer, director, trustee, member of any executive board or similar governing body, business agent, manager, organizer, or other employee of any labor organization,” and, similarly, that such conviction barred Clemon from serving as “administrator, fiduciary, officer, trustee, custodian, counsel, agent or employee of any employee benefit plan or as consultant to any employee benefit plan.”2 The government’s conclusion with regard to the bar on service as a union employee was predicated on Title 29, U.S.C.A., § 504(a):

No person who . . . has been convicted of . robbery, bribery, extortion, embezzlement, grand larceny, burglary, arson, violation of narcotics laws, murder, rape, assault with intent to kill, assault which inflicts serious bodily injury, or a violation of subchapter III or IV of this chapter, or conspiracy to commit any such crimes, shall serve—
(1) as an officer, director, trustee, member of any executive board or similar governing body, business agent, manager, organizer, or other employee (other than as an employee performing exclusively clerical or custodial duties) of any labor organization,
. for five years after such conviction.3

With respect to the bar concerning service on one of the employee benefit plans, the Department’s conclusion was based on Title 29,.U.S.C.A., § 1111(a):

No person who has been convicted of embezzlement . . . [or] . a violation of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 . . . shall be permitted to serve—
(1) as an administrator, fiduciary, officer, trustee, custodian, counsel, agent, or employee of any employee benefit plan, or
(2) as a consultant to any employee benefit plan,
[687]*687during or for five years after such conviction . . .4

4. In the original complaint the plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment by this Court determining whether, or not Isom Clemon is presently disqualified from serving as a business agent of Local 1516 and as a trustee of the employee benefit plans. The letters from the Justice Department put the plaintiff in a rather anomalous position: If it retained Clemon as business agent and trustee it faced possible criminal charges under sections 504 and 1111,5 while discharging Clemon could bring on civil liability for violation of demon’s contract rights.

The plaintiff also requested that this Court enjoin the defendant United States from instituting or attempting to institute any prosecution against the plaintiff, its officers, trustees, employees, or members, under either section 504 or 1111, until entry of a final declaratory judgment. The government stipulated, through the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, that no such prosecutions would be instigated prior to such final judgment.

5. Intervenor Clemon seeks a declaratory judgment that he is not disqualified from serving as business agent of Local 1516 and as trustee of the employee benefit plans, together with a permanent injunction restraining the government from instituting or attempting to institute any prosecutions against Clemon pursuant to section 504 or llll.6

6. The government, in support of its motion to dismiss, contends that demon’s conviction became final on December 30, 1977, that such conviction was a conviction within the meaning of sections 504 and 1111, and that Clemon is thereby precluded from continuing service as business agent of Local 1516 and as trustee of the employee benefit plans.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. This Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this lawsuit and the parties hereto by virtue of Title 28, U.S.C.A., §§ 1331 and 1346, since this action requires judicial construction of various federal statutes under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act and the Employees’ Retirement Income Security Act.

2. Although the government filed a motion to dismiss, the Court is convinced that it is more properly a motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, since there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact” and the government contends that it is “entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”

3. The only question before the Court is whether the judgment of conviction resulting from demon’s plea of nolo contendere amounts to a “conviction” under the disqualification provisions of LMRDA and ER-ISA.

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Bluebook (online)
451 F. Supp. 685, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/local-1516-international-longshoremens-assn-v-united-states-alsd-1978.