Pierce v. Otis Elevator Company

1958 OK 254, 331 P.2d 481, 43 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2085, 1958 Okla. LEXIS 443
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 28, 1958
Docket37914
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1958 OK 254 (Pierce v. Otis Elevator Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pierce v. Otis Elevator Company, 1958 OK 254, 331 P.2d 481, 43 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2085, 1958 Okla. LEXIS 443 (Okla. 1958).

Opinion

WELCH, Chief Justice.

John L. Pierce filed this action in the District Court of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, against The Otis Elevator Company, a corporation, and others. All of the defendants filed motions to quash and plea to the jurisdiction, said motions being based upon the theory that exclusive jurisdiction of plaintiff’s cause of action was by federal statute vested in the National Labor Relations Board. The District Court sustained the motions of the defendants, from which order this plaintiff has appealed.

The petition of the plaintiff alleges that the defendants, some of which are foreign corporations, are licensed to do business within the State of Oklahoma; some of the defendants are residents of this state; that plaintiff is a resident of this state; that the defendants, during the period referred to, have been jointly and constructively engaged in the erection, installation, building, maintaining, repairing and servicing elevators within the City of Tulsa, and cities in adjoining territory within the State of Oklahoma; that the defendants for the purpose of preventing the said plaintiff from engaging in or securing employment through them, or other employment of similar nature by other corporations, maliciously, wickedly and for the purpose of injuring and destroying the said plaintiff’s usefulness, maintained a blacklist against him; that he has suffered damages by loss of wages, and also damages of a permanent nature.

This action was filed under. the provisions of Title 40, Secs. 172, 173, O.S.1951, which provides as follows:

“172. Blacklisting. — No firm, corporation or individual shall blacklist or require a letter of relinquishment, or publish, or cause to be pubished, or blacklisted, any employee, mechanic or laborer, discharged from or voluntarily leaving the service of such company, corporation or individual, with intent and for the purpose of preventing such employee, mechanic or laborer, from engaging in or securing similar or other employment from any other corporation, company or individual.
*483 “173. Penalty. — Any person, firm or corporation violating the preceding section shall be fined in any sum not less than one-hundred dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, and any person so blacklisted shall have a right of action to recover damages.”

In support of the trial court’s ruling, the defendants in error contend that the case at bar falls under the provisions of the Labor Management Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. A. § 160(a) which statute provides:

“(a) Powers of Board generally. The Board is empowered, as hereinafter provided, to prevent any person from engaging in any unfair labor practice (listed in section 1S8 of this Title) affecting commerce. This power shall not be affected by any other means of adjustment or prevention that has been or may be established by agreement, law, or otherwise: Provided, That the Board is empowered by agreement with any agency or any State or Territory to cede to such agency jurisdiction over any cases in any industry (other than mining, manufacturing, communications, and transportation except where predominantly local in character) even though such cases may involve labor disputes affecting commerce, unless the provision of the State or Territorial statute applicable to the determination of such cases by such agency is inconsistent with the corresponding provision of this subchapter or has received a construction inconsistent therewith.”

It is stated by defendants in error in their brief that the acts complained of in petition of plaintiff, if true, would constitute an unfair labor practice under the Labor Management Act, and that the N. L. R. B. has exclusive jurisdiction. In support of this contention they have cited Garner v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs & Helpers Local Union, 346 U.S. 485, 74 S.Ct. 161, 98 L.Ed. 228, which was a case for injunctive relief. The Court there ruled that jurisdiction to remedy such conduct as a “matter of public interest” was vested exclusively in the N. L. R. B. Born v. Laube, 9 Cir., 213 F.2d 407. This was an action against a local labor union and its trustee for reinstatement of plaintiff as a member of the Union, compensation for his loss of earnings and exemplary damages.

Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 348 U.S. 468, 75 S.Ct. 480, 99 L.Ed. 546. In this case a labor union went on strike and picketed an employer’s plant. The employer filed a charge of unfair labor practice with the N. L. R. B. ' Injunctive relief was also sought in Missouri State Courts. The Court held N. L. R. B. had. exclusive jurisdiction in these cases, however, they deal with questions of equitable nature, and do not determine as between remedies provided by state statutes and N. L. R. B. and are not based upon action in tort. Therefore they are of very little help to us in determining the question presented here.

In the case of United Construction Workers, Affiliated with United Mine Workers v. Laburnum Construction Corp., 347 U.S. 656, 74 S.Ct. 833, 98 L.Ed. 1025, the petitioners were contending there that the 1947 Act has occupied the labor relation field so completely that no regulatory agency other than the National Labor Relations Board, and no court may assert jurisdiction over unfair labor practices as defined by it, unless expressly authorized by Congress to do so. They claimed that state courts accordingly were excluded not only from enjoining future unfair labor practices and thus colliding with the Board, as occurred in Garner v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs & Helpers Local Union, 346 U.S. 485, 74 S.Ct. 161, 98 L.Ed. 228, but that state courts are excluded also from entertaining common-law tort actions for recovery of damages caused by such conduct. The court in this case said [347 U.S. 656, 74 S.Ct. 837]:

“In the Garner case Congress had provided a federal administrative remedy, supplemented by judicial procedure for its enforcement, with which ■the state injunctive procedure conflicted. Here Congress has neither pro *484 vided nor suggested any substitute for the traditional state court procedure for collecting damages for injuries caused by tortious conduct. For us to cut off the injured respondent from this right of recovery will deprive it of its property without recourse or compensation. * * * We see no substantial reason for reaching such a result. The contrary view is consistent with the language of the Act and there is positive support for it in our decisions and in the legislative history of the Act.”

The Laburnum case, supra, was followed in the recent cases of International Association of Machinists v. Gonzales, 356 U.S. 617, 78 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
1958 OK 254, 331 P.2d 481, 43 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2085, 1958 Okla. LEXIS 443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pierce-v-otis-elevator-company-okla-1958.