McBryar v. International Union of United Automobile Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America

160 F.R.D. 691, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20837, 1993 WL 770924
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedOctober 15, 1993
DocketNo. IP 92-34-C
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 160 F.R.D. 691 (McBryar v. International Union of United Automobile Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McBryar v. International Union of United Automobile Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, 160 F.R.D. 691, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20837, 1993 WL 770924 (S.D. Ind. 1993).

Opinion

ENTRY AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO ) COMPEL.

FOSTER, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter came before the Court on the plaintiffs’ December 23, 1992 motion to compel the International Union of United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, the International U.A.W. (the “International”), and Local 933 of the International U.A.W. (“the Local”) (collectively referred to as “the Unions”) to produce certain tape recordings and transcripts of the plaintiffs’ telephone conversations. At hearing on Tuesday, September 28, 1993, oral argument was heard and evidence received. At the conclusion, the Court announced that the International and the Local would be ordered to produce the requested materials, with this Entry to follow. The transcript of that proceeding is incorporated herein.

This is a suit under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (the Landrum-Griffin Act), 29 U.S.C. § 401 et seq., and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq. (wiretaps). The plaintiffs are hourly employees of the Allison Transmission Division of General Motors Corporation and members of the International and the Local. The plaintiffs make the following pertinent allegations in their Complaint. In Septem[694]*694ber 1991 officials of the Local, “caused persons to wiretap” and record telephone conversations between the plaintiffs, Complaint ¶¶ 16, 17,1 in which they discussed problems in the Local including the out-sourcing of work, misconduct by union officials, misappropriation of union funds by officials, and the unavailability of the shop committee to union members, id. ¶ 15.2 The officials complained about included defendants Terry Yount (“Yount”), chairman of the Local’s Speedway Unit3 Shop Committee, and Donald R. Winchester, Sr. (“Winchester”) and Wayman Wayne Biggerstaff (“Biggerstaff’), members of the same Shop Committee. These three officials caused the recordings to be played to others in September 1991, id. ¶ 19, and, with other Local agents, also caused a transcript to be made of the recordings, id. ¶ 18. On September 5, 1991, Yount called the International to arrange a meeting to discuss union politics and a meeting was scheduled for the next day. Id. ¶ 21. On September 6, 1991, Yount, Winchester, Biggerstaff, and Local president (and defendant) David L. Fenwick (“Fenwick”) (collectively referred to as the “Local officials”), took the tape and transcript to a meeting with William Osos (“Osos”), the International’s Region 8 Director, and Paul Elliott (“Elliott”), Region 3’s Service Representative servicing the Local, who reported to Osos. Id. ¶22. The Local officials played the tape of the plaintiffs’ conversations at this meeting and gave Osos a copy of the transcript. Id. ¶¶ 23, 24. The plaintiffs allege that the Local officers’ purpose in doing so was to solicit the International’s assistance “in order to remove [the plaintiffs] from their Allison Transmission union appointed jobs and in order to get them transferred to less desirable jobs to punish them for exercising their rights of free speech and association.” Id. ¶ 23. Plaintiff McBryar had been appointed by the International to serve as a Quality Network Representative, id. ¶ 34, and plaintiff Kubelsky had been appointed by the Local as Training Center Scheduler and Record Keeper, id. ¶28. Osos notified the International Union office in Detroit, Michigan of the meetings’ content. Id. ¶ 27. On September 9, 1991, Yount, Winchester, Bigger-staff, and other members of the Bargaining Committee and members of the International used information from the wiretapped conversations to question other employees about the plaintiffs and to question plaintiff McBryar directly. Id. ¶¶28, 34. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiffs were removed from their union positions and/or transferred to less desirable jobs. Id. ¶¶ 29-32, 34-38. The defendants continue to disclose the contents of. the wiretapped conversations to others. Id. ¶ 41. The plaintiffs claim that the defendants’ actions against them constituted violations of the Labor-Management and Reporting Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C. § 411(a)(1), (2), (4), and (5), by depriving them of their substantive (free speech and assembly) and procedural (disciplinary process) rights, id. ¶ 45, and violations of the federal wiretapping statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(l)(a), (b)(i), (b)(ii), (c), (d), id. ¶ 50.

On January 13, 1992, the plaintiffs served on the International and the Local a Rule 34 request for production of the tapes and transcript of the wiretapped conversations. The International responded that it had no such material within its or its officers’ possession or control. It further argues that it lacks the power to obtain the items from the Local because they are separate legal entities and the Union constitution does not give the International such authority. The Local responded that it had no such material within its possession or control as an entity or within the possession or control of its agents “acting within the scope of their authority,” [695]*695and specifically noted that it was not responding on behalf of any individual officer acting in his individual capacity. If any officer now has possession, custody, or control of the tapes and transcript, it contends they do so in their individual capacities only, and the Local has no legal rights over the personal property of its members.

Rule 26(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, permits discovery of any matter “not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action” and which is “reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Rule 34(a) permits a party to inspect, copy, test, or sample documents or tangible things which are “within the scope of Rule 26(b) and which are in the possession, custody or control of the party upon whom the request is served.... ” A party has control or custody of a document or thing when he “has the legal right to obtain the document, even though in fact he has no copy.” 8 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2210, p. 621 (1970); see Scott v. Arex, Inc., 124 F.R.D. 39 (D.Conn.1989); In re Folding Carton Antitrust Litigation, 76 F.R.D. 420 (D.C.Ill.1977); 4A Moore’s Federal Practice, ¶ 34.17 pp. 34-69 through 34-71 (1993). Ownership is not required; if a party possesses or has custody of a document or thing belonging to another person, the party must produce it. 8 Wright & Miller § 2210, p. 623-24. The plaintiffs have the burden of showing that the tapes and transcript are in the possession, custody, or control of the Unions, and the Court may consider any reasonable evidence regardless of the rules of evidence, see National Utility Service, Inc. v. Northwestern Steel and Wire Co., 426 F.2d 222, 225 (7th Cir.1970).

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160 F.R.D. 691, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20837, 1993 WL 770924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcbryar-v-international-union-of-united-automobile-aerospace-insd-1993.