National Right to Work Legal Defense v. Richey

510 F.2d 1239, 167 U.S. App. D.C. 18, 88 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3159, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1468, 1975 U.S. App. LEXIS 15647
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 17, 1975
DocketNo. 74-1661
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 510 F.2d 1239 (National Right to Work Legal Defense v. Richey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Right to Work Legal Defense v. Richey, 510 F.2d 1239, 167 U.S. App. D.C. 18, 88 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3159, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1468, 1975 U.S. App. LEXIS 15647 (D.C. Cir. 1975).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

On May 1, 1973, respondents to this petition for mandamus — ten international unions and their affiliates — brought suit in the District Court against the National Right To Work Committee, and the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc. (a separate organization affiliated with the Committee). The first cause of action sought declaratory and injunctive relief1 in respect of alleged violations of Section 101(a)(4) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959.2 Defendants moved to dismiss because (1) there was no allegation that the employers contributing to the Foundation are employers of the employees supported by it, and (2) the Act does not confer on plaintiffs a right to enforce, through an independent action under Section 102, the provisions of Section 101(a)(4). On October 24, 1973, the District Court denied the motion to dismiss, ruling [20]*20against the jurisdictional claim,3 but reserving the determination of whether defendants had received contributions from “interested employers” until further evidence should be adduced. 366 F.Supp. 46 (D.D.C.1974). The District Court thereafter denied defendants’ request for certification of an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).

Plaintiffs sought to discover the names of all business contributors to the Foundation in 1972. When this was resisted on constitutional grounds, plaintiffs narrowed their request, and filed a motion to compel disclosure.4 Defendants resisted in a series of memoranda in which they raised a number of statutory and constitutional issues, not all of which were strictly relevant to the discovery motion, and not all of which are repeated here. On June 5, 1974, the District Court granted the motion to compel disclosure, and on June 20 it denied certification of' certain issues under 28 U.S.C. 1292(b), staying its order of June 5 until June 25 to allow defendants time to seek review in this court. On June 27, 1974, defendants filed an appeal and motion for stay in this court. The appeal was dismissed on June 28 for lack of jurisdiction, and certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court on January 27, 1975. The petition for mandamus and stay was filed on June 28, 1974 and on that same date this court stayed the District Court’s order pending decision on the petition.5

The petition asks this court to (1) vacate the order compelling discovery, and (2)dismiss the first cause of action (a) for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, or (b) because of the asserted unconstitutionality of the second proviso to Section 101(a)(4). It would appear that this court is being asked to rule on the following questions:

(1) Does Section 102 give the District Court jurisdiction to entertain a suit by a union to enforce the provisions of Section 101(a)(4)? [In his decisions of October 24, 1973 and June 5, 1974, the district judge ruled that it did].
(2) Would a prohibition on financial contributions to the Foundation violate the First Amendment rights of employer-contributors?
(3) Is the definition of “interested employer” restricted to the immediate employer of union-member parties? [The district judge does not appear to have made a final ruling on the definition of “interested employer,” but he implicitly held that it is something broader than the immediate employer].
(4) Do the restrictions of Section 101(a)(4) apply only to suits brought by union members to protect rights under Title I of the Act? [The district judge ruled on June 5 that Section 101(a)(4) applies to more than Title I suits].
(5) Was the order compelling disclosure either appropriate or constitutional? [On June 5, 1974 the District Court found that the information sought “goes to the heart of this litigation” and that plaintiffs had “demonstrated good cause for obtaining the necessary information.” On June 20, he found that “there is no other rea[21]*21sonable way for Plaintiffs to obtain the information sought in the subject interrogatories and discovery process,” and stated that “in light of the Court’s findings and the recent decision of the Court of Appeals for this Circuit in Carey v. Hume [160 U.S.App.D.C. 365, 492 F.2d 631, petition for cert. dismissed, 417 U.S. 938, 94 S.Ct. 2654, 41 L.Ed.2d 661 (1974)], it is clear that Plaintiffs are entitled to the material they seek, notwithstanding Defendants’ assertion of First Amendment rights to withhold the information.”]

The Supreme Court in the recent past has on occasion unmistakably enlarged the area in which mandamus may be suitably employed.6 It is equally clear, however, that mandamus remains, in that Court’s contemplation, an extraordinary remedy, to be used in the discretion of the issuing court only where essential in the interest of justice, and not in derogation of the orderly processes of appeal. The issue that we must decide is whether mandamus is appropriate in the instant case. For the reasons stated below, we hold that mandamus is neither necessary nor appropriate.

This court has several times in recent years spoken to the principles governing the issuance of the writ. See, e. g., Colonial Times, Inc. v. Gasch, 166 U.S.App.D.C. -, 509 F.2d 517 (1975); Donnelly v. Parker, 158 U.S.App.D.C. 335, 486 F.2d 402 (1973); Morrow v. District of Columbia, 135 U.S.App.D.C. 160, 417 F.2d 728 (1969). We do not repeat those discussions here, but, taking them into account, demonstrate why none of the five alleged trial court errors are appropriate for resolution by mandamus.

1. Jurisdiction under Section 102.

Petitioners allege that the District Court erred in refusing to rule that plaintiffs could not maintain this action as an affirmative suit. As the Seventh Circuit recognized in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 336 v. Illinois Bell Telephone Company, 496 F.2d 1, 3 (7th Cir. 1974), the instant case is the first to address this point, and the issue is not an easy one. Even if the district judge’s finding of jurisdiction should ultimately be held to be erroneous, his determination that jurisdiction does exist is not the clear usurpation of judicial power traditionally required for the issuance of mandamus.7 As the Supreme Court said in Ex parte Chicago, R.I. & Pac. Ry., 255 U.S. 273, 275, 41 S.Ct. 288, 289, 65 L.Ed. 631 (1921):

There is a well-settled rule by which this court is guided upon applications for a writ of prohibition to prevent a lower court from wrongfully assuming jurisdiction of a party, of a cause, or of some collateral matter arising therein. If the lower court is clearly without jurisdiction, the writ will ordinarily be granted . . ..If, however, the jurisdiction of the lower court is doubtful, Ex parte Muir, 254 U.S. 522 [41 S.Ct. 185, 65 L.Ed. 383]; . or if the the complaining party has an adequate remedy by appeal or otherwise, Ex parte Tiffany, 252 U.S. 32, 37 [40 S.Ct. 239, 64 L.Ed.

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510 F.2d 1239, 167 U.S. App. D.C. 18, 88 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3159, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1468, 1975 U.S. App. LEXIS 15647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-right-to-work-legal-defense-v-richey-cadc-1975.