Sinclair Refining Company v. Samuel M. Atkinson, Sinclair Refining Company v. Samuel M. Atkinson

290 F.2d 312, 48 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2045, 1961 U.S. App. LEXIS 4722
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit·Decided April 25, 1961·No. 13092, 13136, 13137·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinion

CASTLE, Circuit Judge.

Sinclair Refining Company, plaintiff-appellant, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff, commenced this action in the District Court. It seeks damages for alleged breach of a no-strike clause of a collective bargaining agreement; a declaration of rights; and a permanent injunction.

Count I of the complaint invokes jurisdiction under Section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 185); names Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, and Local No. 7-210 of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, as defendants; alleges in substance that the International and Local constitute the recognized collective bargaining agent for approximately 1700 production and maintenance employees in a bargaining unit confined to plaintiff’s East Chicago, Indiana, refinery, and that said Unions by their officers, committeemen and other agents caused a strike or work stoppage by approximately 999 of the employees within the bargaining unit on February 13 and 14, 1959 over asserted pay claims of three members, aggregating $2.19, and which were arbitrable under the grievance procedure of the current collective bargaining agreement, and that the work stoppage was in violation of the no-strike clause of the agreement and caused damages to plaintiff by way of out-of-pocket expenses in the amount of $12,500.00 for which recovery is sought.

Count II is based on diversity. It names as defendants 24 individuals, employees of plaintiff at the East Chicago refinery, who are committeemen of the Local and agents of the International. It incorporates the allegations of Count I concerning the collective agreement and it seeks damages from the individual defendants in the same amount and for the same work stoppage. It alleges that the individual defendants “contrary to their duty to plaintiff to abide by said contract, and maliciously confederating and conspiring together to cause the plaintiff expense and damage, and to induce breaches of the said contract, and to interfere with performance thereof by said labor organizations and the affected employees, and to cause breaches thereof, individually and as officers, committeemen and agents of the said labor organizations, fomented, assisted and participated” in the strike or work stoppage.

Count III is based on diversity with respect to the same 24 individual defendants named in Count II and asserts jurisdiction under Section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 185), as well as diversity, with respect to the Local and International Unions. In addition to the allegations of Counts I and II it alleges eight previous strikes or work stoppages at the East Chicago refinery during the term of the current collective agreement over matters subject to its grievance procedure and provisions for arbitration, damaging plaintiff great *314 ly in excess of $10,000.00. It seeks a declaration of the validity and enforceability of the no-strike and grievance provisions of the contract and a permanent injunction restraining and enjoining all of the defendants “from aiding, abetting, fomenting, advising, participating in, ratifying, or condoning any strike, stoppage of work, slowdown or any other disruption of, or interference with normal employment or normal operation or production by any employee within the bargaining unit at plaintiff’s East Chicago, Indiana, refinery” covered by the current collective agreement “in support of, or because of, any matter or thing which is, or could be, the subject of a grievance under the grievance procedure of said contract, or any extension thereof, or any other contract between the parties which shall contain like or similar provisions”.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss and a motion to stay. The District Court denied the motion to stay and denied the motion to dismiss as to Count I (action against Unions for damages) but granted the motion to dismiss and entered judgment dismissing Counts II (action against individual defendants for damages) and III (declaratory and in-junctive relief).

The plaintiff appealed the dismissal of Counts II and III. 1 The defendants appealed the denial of the motion to stay. 2 The plaintiff’s appeal (Nos. 13092 and 13136) has not been consolidated with defendants’ appeal (No. 13137). However, to avoid unnecessary repetition we elect to treat them as consolidated for the purpose of disposition in one opinion.

The main contested issues presented by plaintiff’s appeal are:

(1) Whether 29 U.S.C.A. § 185 precludes suit for recovery of damages from individual union officer-company employees for inducing or participating in a strike or work stoppage in violation of a no-strike clause of a collective bargaining agreement covering the unit to' which they belong.
(2) Whether 29 U.S.C.A. § 101 precludes injunctive relief to restrain a future breach of a no-strike clause of a collective bargaining agreement.

Those presented by defendants’ appeal' are:

(1) Whether the collective bargaining agreement here involved required the employer to submit to arbitration any claim he might make for damages caused by breach of the agreement’s no-strike clause.
(2) Had the employer submitted the claim to arbitration?

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

Sinclair Refining Company v. Samuel M. Atkinson, Sinclair Refining Company v. Samuel M. Atkinson, 290 F.2d 312, 48 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2045, 1961 U.S. App. LEXIS 4722 (7th Cir. 1961).

290 F.2d 312 (Sinclair Refining Company v. Samuel M. Atkinson, Sinclair Refining Company v. Samuel M. Atkinson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Judge v. Diamond (In re Victor Dye Works, Inc.)
48 B.R. 943 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1985)
Stewart Coach Industries, Inc. v. Moore
512 F. Supp. 879 (S.D. Ohio, 1981)
Daly v. Nau
339 N.E.2d 71 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1975)
Walt Peabody Advertising Service, Inc. v. Pecora
393 F. Supp. 328 (W.D. Kentucky, 1975)
Nevills v. State of Illinois
388 F. Supp. 622 (E.D. Illinois, 1974)
Bing v. General Motors Acceptance Corporation
237 F. Supp. 911 (E.D. South Carolina, 1965)
American Dredging Company v. Local 25
338 F.2d 837 (Third Circuit, 1964)
Tidewater v. Freight Drivers
187 A.2d 685 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1963)
Sinclair Refining Co. v. Atkinson
370 U.S. 195 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Atkinson v. Sinclair Refining Co.
370 U.S. 238 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Charles Dowd Box Co. v. Courtney
368 U.S. 502 (Supreme Court, 1962)