Mattina v. Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation & Care Center

329 F. App'x 319
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided May 18, 2009·No. Nos. 08-4059-cv (L), 08-5067-cv (Con)·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation and Care Center (“Kingsbridge”) appeals from orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Honorable Denise L. Cote presiding, granting the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) petition for a temporary injunction pursuant to Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 151, 160(3) (“Section 10(j)”). We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts, proceedings below, and specification of issues on appeal.1

In this Circuit, to issue a Section 10(j) injunction, the district court must apply a two-prong test. First, “the court must find reasonable cause to believe that unfair labor practices have been committed.” Hoffman v. Inn Credible Caterers, Ltd., 247 F.3d 360, 364-65 (2d Cir.2001). “[Reasonable cause to support such a conclusion is sufficient,” or put differently, a “district court does not ... make a final determination whether the conduct in question constitutes an unfair labor practice.” Id. at 365. In determining whether reasonable cause exists, a district court should show “[ajppropriate deference ... to the judgment of the NLRB, and ... should decline to grant relief only if convinced that the NLRB’s legal or factual theories are fatally flawed.” Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Comm., Inc., 67 F.3d 1054, 1059 (2d Cir.1995). Second, “the court must find that the requested relief is just and proper.” Inn Credible Caterers, 247 F.3d at 365. This Circuit has made clear that courts should grant interim relief under Section 10(j) “in accordance with traditional equity practice, as conditioned by the necessities of public interest which Congress has sought to protect.” Mono v. N. Am. Soccer League, 632 F.2d 217, 218 (2d Cir.1980) (per curiam) (quotation marks omitted). Thus, “injunctive relief under § 10(j) is just and proper when it is necessary to prevent irreparable harm or to preserve the status quo.” Inn Credible Caterers, 247 F.3d at 368.

In reviewing a district court’s decision to issue a Section 10(j) injunction, “we are bound by the district court’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous and ... we review fully all conclusions of law, including findings of reasonable cause. We review the district court’s determination of whether relief is just and proper for abuse of discretion.... ” Id. at 364 (citations omitted).

[322] The majority of the issues raised by Kingsbridge center around that part of the injunction ordering Kingsbridge to reinstate striking employees. Kingsbridge argues that the district court acted without subject matter jurisdiction in conducting hearings in connection with its reinstatement order. We decline to read the jurisdiction granted by the NLRA as narrowly as Kingsbridge would prefer. Section 10(j) provides that upon the filing of a petition by the Board for “appropriate temporary relief or restraining order, ... the court ... shall have jurisdiction to grant to the Board such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper.” This broad language encompasses the reinstatement hearings held by the district court in this case. See Armstrong v. Guccione, 470 F.3d 89, 102 (2d Cir.2006) (“ ‘Unless a statute in so many words, or by a necessary and inescapable inference, restricts the court’s [jurisdiction] in equity, the full scope of that jurisdiction is to be recognized and applied.’ ’’(quoting Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U.S. 305, 313, 102 S.Ct. 1798, 72 L.Ed.2d 91 (1982))). As a result, we conclude that the district court acted within its jurisdiction when it held hearings to ascertain whether certain employees should be reinstated in response to Kingsbridge’s complaints that those employees had engaged in strike misconduct. See Danielson v. Joint Bd. of Coat, Suit & Allied Garment Workers’ Union, 494 F.2d 1230, 1241 (2d Cir.1974) (“The essence of equity jurisdiction has been the power ... to do equity and to mould each decree to the necessities of the particular case. Flexibility rather than rigidity has distinguished it.”). We also deem harmless any error in the district court’s assignment of the burden of proof during the striker misconduct hearings. See Garofolo v. Coomb, 804 F.2d 201, 206 (2d Cir.1986) (holding that even if trial court’s instructions on alibi evidence were erroneous by improperly shifting burden of proof to petitioner, error was harmless, as everything pointed to petitioner’s guilt).

Kingsbridge also argues that the district court abused its discretion in ordering reinstatement of the former strikers because, Kingsbridge asserts, a Section 10(j) injunction ordering reinstatement is not “just and proper” where there is an unresolved issue pending before the Board as to the lawfulness of the strike. We reject that argument for many of the reasons stated by the district court. We first note that the “reasonable cause” prong contemplates that a Section 10(j) injunction will routinely be issued despite the existence of unresolved issues before the Board. See Inn Credible Caterers, 247 F.3d at 365. And, we have allowed that:

Where, as in this case, an equity court has “reasonable cause” to believe that particularly flagrant unfair labor practices have been committed, the court’s fashioning of those remedies typically framed by the Board in an unfair labor practice proceeding is “just and proper,” even though a final decision by the Board is pending.

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Mattina v. Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation & Care Center, 329 F. App'x 319 (2d Cir. 2009).

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