Local No. 423, International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers v. Anaconda American Brass Co.

204 F. Supp. 93, 6 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 207, 50 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2947, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4030
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedApril 6, 1962
DocketCiv. No. 9083
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 204 F. Supp. 93 (Local No. 423, International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers v. Anaconda American Brass Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Local No. 423, International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers v. Anaconda American Brass Co., 204 F. Supp. 93, 6 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 207, 50 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2947, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4030 (D. Conn. 1962).

Opinion

BLUMENFELD, District Judge.

The defendant Anaconda American Brass Company, Torrington Division, hereafter Anaconda, operates three plants in three different cities in Connecticut, in each of which a different union is the bargaining representative for the employees. Each one of the three separate collective bargaining agreements between the respective unions and Anaconda contains the following provision:

“Transfer between Divisions in different cities will result in no loss of plant-wide seniority.”

The plaintiff Local No. 423, International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, hereafter Mine Workers, alleges that Anaconda breached its collective bargaining agreement by denying full plant seniority to those whom it re-employed at its Anaconda plant in Waterbury, after transferring machinery and equipment from its Torrington plant to its Waterbury plant, where the same work was continued thereafter, and by refusing to call back the other employees whom it had laid off in Torrington.

After answering the complaint, Anaconda now moves under Rule 14(a) for permission to implead the United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO and Local Union No. 6445, United Steelworkers of America, of Ansonia, hereafter Steelworkers, and Local 1078, International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, of Waterbury, hereafter U. A. W., by serving a summons and third party complaint upon them. This complaint, in brief, alleges that during the effective term of the several bargaining agree[95]*95ments, the two proposed third party unions threatened it with strike action unless Anaconda agreed to modifications of their respective bargaining agreements, which would deprive former Torrington employees, whom it might transfer to the Waterbury or Ansonia plants, of full plantwide seniority, and that, as a result of those threats, it was compelled to and did enter into letter agreements with each of them, acceding to their demands. Since both letter agreements are essentially the same, only the earliest one is noted in the margin.1 The discussion which follows can be related to both third party defendants.

Although Anaconda’s answer denies that it has breached the collective bargaining agreement with the plaintiff, it alleges in its third party complaint that if it did breach that contract it was induced to do so by the necessity of complying with the letter agreements which are the product of the third party unions’ strike threats. It pleads that it will be unable to carry out any decree requiring compliance with the Mine Workers’ contract without violating the tainted letter agreements.2

Whether a claim by defendant against the proposed third parties which will fit within the scope of Rule 14, F.R. Civ.P., 28 U.S.C.A., may be found among these allegations is the question which must be determined. Rule 14(a) is explicit in its direction that the party impleaded must be one who is or may be liable to the defendant:

“A defendant cannot assert an entirely separate claim against a third party under Rule 14 even though it arises out of the same general set of facts as the main claim; there must be an attempt to pass on to the third party all or part of the liability asserted against the defendant.” 3 Moore, Federal Practice, ¶14.07, pp. 418-419 (2d Ed.); United States v. Scott, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 1955, 18 F.R.D. 324, 326; Rosalis v. Universal Distributors, D.C.Conn., 1957, 21 F.R.D. 169, 172.

The defendant contends that the facts set forth in the third party complaint state a cause of action for malicious interference with the contract between the plaintiff and the defendant, citing Ran W. Hat Shop, Inc. v. Sculley, 1922, 98 Conn. 1, 118 A. 55, 29 A.L.R. 551. The cause of action for malicious interference as recognized in Connecticut and in other jurisdictions, Cf. Restatement of Torts, §§ 766 et seq., gives to the promisee injured by a breach of contract the right to recover damages from' the one who induced the breach.

No case or authority has been cited by Anaconda in support of its contention [96]*96that the one induced has a right to reimbursement or contribution against the inducer. As will be seen later, the merit of this contention must, for this case, be tested by federal substantive law.

Although independent jurisdictional grounds are not regarded as necessary in order to entertain a third party action, Dery v. Wyer, 2 Cir., 1959, 265 F.2d 804, the advantages of ancillary proceedings do not operate to enlarge jurisdiction over subject matter which, as governed by statute, lies only within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board. Amazon Cotton Mill Co. v. Textile Workers Union, 4 Cir., 1948, 167 F.2d 183. While ordinarily the existence of a substantive right against the third party would be tested under state law, San Diego Bldg. Trades Council, Millmen’s Union, Local 2020 v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, at p. 247, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), forbids it in cases touching interests regulated by national policy in the field of labor management relations.

“The obligation to pay compensation can be, indeed is designed to be, a potent method of governing conduct and controlling policy. Even the States’ salutary effort to redress private wrongs or grant compensation for past harm cannot be exerted to regulate activities that are potentially subject to the exclusive federal regulatory scheme. See Garner v. Teamsters Union, 346 U. S. 485, 492-497 [74 S.Ct. 161, 98 L. Ed. 228]. It may be that an award of damages in a particular situation will not, in fact, conflict with the active assertion of federal authority. The same may be true of the incidence of a particular state injunction. To sanction either involves a conflict with federal policy in that it involves allowing two law-making sources to govern. In fact, since remedies form an ingredient of any integrated scheme of regulation, to allow the State to grant a remedy here which has been withheld from the National Labor Relations Board only accentuates the danger of conflict.”

The first step in the development of Anaconda’s claim against the third parties is its contention that the letter agreement is invalid. One ground relied upon is that the defendant resorted to threat of strike action prohibited under 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(d) in order to procure a modification of the existing collective bargaining agreement to the extent set forth in the letter agreement.

The purpose of § 158(d) has been explained in N. L. R. B. v. Jacobs Mfg. Co., 2 Cir., 1952, 196 F.2d 680 by Judge Chase at p. 684:

“The purpose of this provision is, apparently, to give stability to agreements governing industrial relations.

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204 F. Supp. 93, 6 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 207, 50 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2947, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4030, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/local-no-423-international-union-of-mine-mill-smelter-workers-v-ctd-1962.