Schnabel v. BLDG. & CONST. TRADES COUNCIL OF PHILA.

563 F. Supp. 1030, 115 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2738, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17777
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 13, 1983
DocketCiv. A. 82-2256
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 563 F. Supp. 1030 (Schnabel v. BLDG. & CONST. TRADES COUNCIL OF PHILA.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schnabel v. BLDG. & CONST. TRADES COUNCIL OF PHILA., 563 F. Supp. 1030, 115 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2738, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17777 (E.D. Pa. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

McGLYNN, District Judge.

On May 21, 1982, plaintiffs, Schnabel Associates, Inc. (“SA”), F. Carl Schnabel, President of SA, Joseph William Curtin, a construction worker for SA and Ronald Hun-sicker, a construction manager for SA (collectively referred to as the “individual plaintiffs”), filed a ten count complaint against the defendants, Building & Construction Trades Council of Philadelphia and Vicinity, AFL-CIO (“the Council”), Local 542, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 921, International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local Union 654, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Metropolitan District Council of Philadelphia, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (collectively referred to as the “union defendants”), Ralph Williams, former Business Manager of the Council, Charles Priscopo, a delegate to the Council and Business Agent of Local 542, Edward E. McClintock, Business Representative and Financial Secretary of Local 921, Hugh M. Snow, Business Manager of Local 654, Earl Henninger, Business Representative of Carpenters and various John Does and Richard Roes (collectively referred to as the “individual defendants”). The complaint states that since around November 4, 1981 the defendants have engaged in unlawful picketing and other illegal and at times violent conduct 1 at four job sites at which SA is an open shop general contractor in order to induce subcontractors, suppliers, construction owners and users from doing business with SA. In count one, SA avers that the behavior of the Council and the union defendants violates § 8(b)(4) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4), and § 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 187. Part of the recovery SA seeks in this count is an award of punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. Count two states that the defendants’ behavior constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985(3) & 1986 (also known as the “Ku Klux Klan Act”) because it has the intended purpose and effect of depriving plaintiffs, who are persons with no affiliation with organized labor, of equal protection of the law, specifically the right to freely travel and associate with each other in the pursuit of their employment relations and the right guaranteed under § 7 of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. § 157, to refuse to associate with a labor organization. In count three, SA asserts that the defendants and other co-conspirators have violated sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 & 2. Similar *1035 ly in count four SA contends that the defendants themselves have undertaken actions proscribed by these antitrust statutes. Lastly, counts five through ten allege various state law causes of action. 2

Defendants have moved to dismiss count one as to all the defendants but the Council and counts two through ten in their entirety. Regarding count one, defendants assert that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted against the union defendants because it fails to contain enough factual allegations to pass muster even under the liberal notice pleading required by the federal rules. 3 Defendants also ask that SA’s requests for punitive damages and attorneys’ fees be stricken. As to count two, defendants contend that the plaintiffs have again failed to plead with specificity, that the plaintiffs do not belong to a class of persons targeted for protection by § 1985(3) and that plaintiffs cannot rely upon violations of § 303 as a basis for recovery under § 1985(3). Defendants further contend that having failed to plead a cause of action under § 1985, plaintiffs have not stated one under § 1986. Concerning SA’s antitrust counts, defendants again assert that they lack the requisite specificity under the federal pleading rules. They also argue that these counts as pled do not invoke jurisdiction under the Sherman Act and do not survive the exemptions afforded organized labor from the antitrust laws. Defendants also assert that plaintiffs have not adequately pled any causes of action against the individual defendants because they have not properly pled any federal causes of action against them. Lastly, defendants contend that counts five through ten do not set forth enough detail to state causes of action against the Council and the union defendants.

I will address each one of these arguments in turn. Before addressing the merits of the motion, however, there is a threshold issue I must resolve. After the defendants filed their motion to dismiss, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint along with their reply to the motion. Plaintiffs rely in part on this amended complaint in their reply. Some of the defendants assert the plaintiffs were not free to file the amended complaint without leave of court. Therefore, they conclude that it is not properly before me for consideration.

Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “[a] party may amend his pleading once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served.... ” Rule 7(a) defines pleadings as “a complaint and an answer; a reply to a counterclaim ...; an answer to a counterclaim...; a third-party complaint. ..; and a third-party answer....” By interpreting these two rules together, it is almost universally held that a motion to dismiss does not constitute a responsive pleading which terminates a plaintiff’s right to amend as a matter of course. See 6 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1483 (1971 & Supp.1982); 3 Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 15.07[2] (1982 & Supp. 1982-83); Kelly v. Delaware River Joint Comm’n, 187 F.2d 93 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 342 U.S. 812, 72 S.Ct. 25, 96 L.Ed. 614 (1951). Cf. Neifeld v. Steinberg, 438 F.2d 423, 425 n. 3 (3d Cir.1971) (motion to strike defenses not a responsive pleading). See also Drennon v. Philadelphia General Hospital, 428 F.Supp. 809 (E.D.Pa.1977); Bates v. Western Electric, 420 F.Supp. 521, 524 n. 1 (E.D.Pa.1976). Thus plaintiffs’ amended complaint is properly before me.

In evaluating the merits of defendants’ motion, I must accept as true the well-pleaded allegations of the amended complaint and construe them in the light most *1036 favorable to the plaintiffs. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974).

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Bluebook (online)
563 F. Supp. 1030, 115 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2738, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17777, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schnabel-v-bldg-const-trades-council-of-phila-paed-1983.