Pollio & Son, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America

242 F. Supp. 684, 59 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3029, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6559
District Court, E.D. New York·Decided June 17, 1965·No. No. 65 C 447·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

DOOLING, District Judge.

In an action commenced in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Nassau, on April 15, 1965, defendants removed on the theory that the complaint charges conduct constituting a “secondary boycott” within § 8(b) (4) of the National Labor Relations Act [29 U. S.C. § 158(b) (4)] and which the corporate plaintiff made the subject of an unfair labor practice charge, and that in consequence the complaint states a claim within § 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 [29 U.S.C. § 187

[685] (a)] that is removable as a federal question case under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b).

The complaint, in three counts, is: first, that defendants interfered with plaintiff truckers’ contractual relations with their shipper-customers in that they through personal and telephone contacts “induced, persuaded, enticed or coerced” plaintiffs’ customers to repudiate contracts, accompanying such acts with threats of illegal acts or acts calculated to disrupt plaintiffs’ business through discontinuance of its trucking service; second, that defendants conspired to interfere with plaintiffs contractual or advantageous economic relations with its customers and carried the conspiracy out; and, third, that defendants assaulted the individual plaintiffs by hazardously tail-gating their trucks on the public highways of New York City and, in addition, by menacing the plaintiff Anthony Pollio in his home. Plaintiffs move to remand [28 U.S.C. § 1447(c)] on the ground that the action is one to recover for common law, not federal tort. The motion must be denied.

It is not disputed that plaintiffs’ claim exceeds $10,000, that they are engaged in an industry affecting interstate commerce, and that defendants’ activities concern an industry affecting interstate commerce. And plaintiffs concede that “some of the acts complained of may fall within the purview of the prohibitions of § 8(b) (4) or the protection otherwise accorded under the National Labor Relations Act.”

Plaintiffs contend that the case is not removable because Section 303(b) of the LMRA contemplates concurrent state court jurisdiction and because much that is alleged in the complaint is quite beyond the scope of the federal Acts and invokes familiar common law causes of action compatible with the federal Acts; because, moreover, the complaint charges acts of violence that state law alone is competent to deal with; and because the complaint presents non-federal matter as its very gist and the case does not become removable because some of the facts integral to the state law claims may also suffice to make out an unfair labor practice. Cf. Bethlehem Steel Co. v. New York State Board, 1947, 330 U.S. 767, 774-775, 67 S.Ct. 1026, 91 L.Ed. 1234; La Crosse Telephone Corp. v. Wisconsin Board, 1949, 336 U.S. 18, 26, 69 S.Ct. 379, 93 L.Ed. 463; United Const. Workers v. Laburnum, 1954, 347 U.S. 656, 665-666, 74 S.Ct. 833, 98 L.Ed. 1025; International Union, United Automobile, etc., Workers v. Russell, 1958, 356 U.S. 634, 644-645, 78 S.Ct. 932, 2 L.Ed.2d 1030; Bay State Hats, Inc. v. Rose, S. D.N.Y.1956, 30 L.C. 91,865 (case not covered by federal act). Note Buffalo Arms, Inc. v. Molony, W.D.N.Y.1954, 26 L.C. 87,133 [remanding a Section 303 (b) case on theory 1947 Act preserved coincident state tort remedy by the grant of concurrent jurisdiction in Section 303 (b)]. Plaintiffs add that the conduct complained of is such that the Union could hardly authorize and is unlikely to ratify it, and that the Union may well, if the case remains in this Court, move to dismiss it as within the primary jurisdiction of the Labor Board.

Defendants contend that since the complaint includes a claim cognizable under Section 303 of the LMRA, the case is removable even though the pleader invokes only state law (Leggett & Co. v. O’Rourke, S.D.N.Y.1964, 237 F.Supp. 561, 563; Fay v. American Cyatoscope Makers, Inc., S.D.N.Y.1951, 98 F.Supp. 278, 280-281; Table Talk Pies of Westchester v. Straus, S.D.N.Y.1964, 237 F.Supp. 514, 518; Prospect Dairy Inc. v. Dellwood Dairy Co., N.D.N.Y.1964, 237 F.Supp. 176, 178-179); defendants say that where, as here, a claim is at least “arguably” a claim of unfair labor practice, only such judicial jurisdiction is carved out of the otherwise exclusive jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board as Section 303(b) defines (Cf. San Diego Bldg. Trades Council v. Garmon, 1959, 359 U.S. 236, 246-248, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775), even though the particular claim is explicitly framed on state law (Local 24, etc. v. Oliver, 1959, 358 U.S. 283, 296-297, 79 S.Ct. 297, 3 L.Ed.2d 312; Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, [686] Inc., 1955, 348 U.S. 468, 481, 75 S.Ct. 480, 99 L.Ed. 546), and, within that judicial jurisdiction, the only law is the preemptive federal law, saving the violence exception. Local 20 etc. v. Morton, 1964, 377 U.S. 252, 258-261, 84 S.Ct. 1253, 12 L.Ed.2d 280.

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Pollio & Son, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, 242 F. Supp. 684, 59 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3029, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6559 (E.D.N.Y. 1965).

242 F. Supp. 684 (Pollio & Son, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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