No. 89-3649

903 F.2d 961
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMay 21, 1990
Docket961
StatusPublished

This text of 903 F.2d 961 (No. 89-3649) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
No. 89-3649, 903 F.2d 961 (3d Cir. 1990).

Opinion

903 F.2d 961

134 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2352, 115 Lab.Cas. P 10,078

Charles FEATHER t/a Feather Trucking, R.D. # 4, Box 653,
Altoona, Pennsylvania 16601; Thomas V. Patterson, R.D. # 2,
Box 66A, Clymer, Pennsylvania 15728; Lawton Trucking, Inc.,
R.D. # 1, Box 37, Shelocta, Pennsylvania 15774; D.P.
Zimmerman, Jr., 115 East Logan Avenue, Altoona,
Pennsylvania; Michael D. Rose, R.D. # 1, Homer City,
Pennsylvania 15748; David B. Smogyi, R.D. # 1, Box 253,
Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania; Donald Benyack, 115 William Penn
Avenue, Conemaugh, Pennsylvania 15909; Ruth A. Cordes,
Admx. Est. Edward W. Cordes, Jr., 215 15th Avenue, Juniata,
Altoona, Pennsylvania 16601; Everett C. Teeter, Jr. t/a
Everett C. Teeter Trucking, R.D. # 1, Box 188, Nanty Glo,
Pennsylvania 15943; William Nileski, R.D., Gallitzen,
Pennsylvania 16641; and Robert C. Ermin, 5500 Third Avenue,
Altoona, Pennsylvania 16602
v.
UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA and District 2, United Mine
Workers of America and Local 1600, United Mine
Workers of America, Appellants.

No. 89-3649.

United States Court of Appeals,
Third Circuit.

Argued Feb. 8, 1990.
Decided May 21, 1990.

Melvin P. Stein, (argued), Kuhn, Engle & Stein, Pittsburgh, Pa., Kurt C. Kobelt, Previant, Goldberg, Uelmen, Gratz, Miller & Brueggman, Milwaukee, Wis., Robert H. Stropp, Jr., United Mine Workers of America Intern. Union, Washington, D.C., for appellants.

Jerald R. Cureton, (argued), Nina A. Riasanovsky, Robert G. Haas, Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley, Philadelphia, Pa., Paul R. Hirschfield, Hirschfield & Hirschfield, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellees.

Before GREENBERG, SCIRICA and SEITZ, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

SCIRICA, Circuit Judge.

We first visited this matter seven years ago when certain coal haulers sought damages for interruption of their operations during a strike by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). In Feather v. United Mine Workers of America, 711 F.2d 530 (3d Cir.1983), we affirmed the UMWA's liability on the "hot cargo" clause but remanded for findings on causation and agency. We are now called upon to review the district court's findings on these two issues. We will affirm in part, reverse in part and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

Although the facts have been extensively discussed in previous opinions,1 we will repeat some of them here. During the Fall of 1974, the UMWA renegotiated its collective bargaining agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), a multi-employer bargaining association of coal producers. At the same time, the Western Pennsylvania Coal Haulers Association (WPCHA), a group of coal haulers that had signed onto the previous contract between the UMWA and the BCOA, sought to negotiate a separate agreement with the UMWA. On November 11, 1974, the old agreement expired before a new agreement was consummated. The following day, the UMWA struck both the BCOA and the WPCHA. On December 6, the union approved a new contract with the BCOA, which included a provision--subsection (g) of Article II--that prohibited coal haulers who did not sign the agreement from transporting coal from BCOA mines.2 The strike continued against WPCHA haulers until they signed the new agreement in the Spring of 1975.3

This suit, later certified as a class action, was brought in 1976 by eleven Western Pennsylvania coal haulers4 against the International UMWA, District 2 and Local 1600. The haulers sought damages for losses suffered as the result of the UMWA's strike, which they alleged was illegal because an object of the strike was to force them to agree to a "hot cargo" clause5 and to prevent BCOA members from using non-signatory haulers to transport coal.

Section 303(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) prohibits a union in an industry that affects commerce from engaging in "any activity or conduct defined as an unfair labor practice in section 158(b)(4) of this title." 29 U.S.C. Sec. 187(a) (1982). In turn, Sec. 8(b)(4)(B) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) deems striking to "forc[e] or requir[e] any person ... to cease doing business with any other person" an unfair labor practice. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(b)(4)(B) (1982). The district court found that the UMWA violated these sections by striking to enforce the hot cargo clause and that it was liable for damages sustained after December 6, 1974, the date of the new contract with the BCOA. Feather, 494 F.Supp. at 710-11.

On appeal, we made clear that by striking to obtain the hot cargo clause the UMWA may also be liable for damages sustained during the BCOA strike from November 12 through December 6. Feather, 711 F.2d at 536-37. We relied on Sec. 8(b)(4)(A) of the NLRA, which provides that striking to force or require an employer "to enter into any agreement which is prohibited by subsection (e) of this section" constitutes an unfair labor practice. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(b)(4)(A) (1982). Under Sec. 8(e), entering a collective bargaining agreement wherein the employer "agrees to ... cease doing business with any other person" is an unfair labor practice. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(e) (1982).

Although we affirmed on the UMWA's liability, we remanded on two issues. Because the district court opinion "contain[ed] no determination of the proximate cause issue presented by the section 303(b) damage claim," we remanded on causation of damages. Feather, 711 F.2d at 538. We also remanded to resolve the agency question--the union's responsibility for the actions of individual members affecting independent hauler H & H. Id. at 539.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291 (1982). The district court directed entry of final judgment in favor of two class claimants after an express determination that there was no just reason for delay under Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b).6 We review the factual findings on causation and agency under the clearly erroneous standard. We have plenary review whether the law of the case forecloses consideration of subsidiary questions.

II.

In remanding the issue of causation, we gave the following mandate:

To receive a damage award under [section 303(b) ], the plaintiffs in this case must demonstrate not that the unlawful hot cargo cause [sic] was an object of the BCOA strike, but that it was a substantial factor in or materially contributed to the Union's decision to call and maintain that strike.

Feather, 711 F.2d at 538 (emphasis in original).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. United States Gypsum Co.
333 U.S. 364 (Supreme Court, 1948)
Carbon Fuel Co. v. United Mine Workers
444 U.S. 212 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Arizona v. California
460 U.S. 605 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Anderson v. City of Bessemer City
470 U.S. 564 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Feather v. United Mine Workers of America
711 F.2d 530 (Third Circuit, 1983)
Feather v. United Mine Workers of America
494 F. Supp. 701 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1980)
Lewis v. Seanor Coal Co.
382 F.2d 437 (Third Circuit, 1967)
Feathers v. United Mine Workers of America
621 F. Supp. 926 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1985)
C & K Coal Co. v. United Mine Workers of America
704 F.2d 690 (Third Circuit, 1983)
Feather v. United Mine Workers of America
711 F.2d 530 (Third Circuit, 1983)
Feather v. United Mine Workers of America
903 F.2d 961 (Third Circuit, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
903 F.2d 961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/no-89-3649-ca3-1990.