United Mine Workers of America v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co.

129 So. 2d 215, 48 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2809, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 2068
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 17, 1961
DocketNo. 82
StatusPublished

This text of 129 So. 2d 215 (United Mine Workers of America v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Mine Workers of America v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co., 129 So. 2d 215, 48 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2809, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 2068 (La. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

HOOD, Judge.

Plaintiff instituted this suit against Arkansas Oak Flooring Company and its surety, S. C. Griffith, to recover damages alleged to have resulted from the erroneous issuance of an injunction restraining members of plaintiff union from picketing the premises of the defendant company. This proceeding is an aftermath of Arkansas Oak Flooring Co. v. United Mine Workers, 227 La. 1109, 81 So.2d 413, in which the United States Supreme Court finally held that a state court could not enjoin peaceful picketing under the circumstances therein presented. See United Mine Workers v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co., 351 U.S. 62, 76 S.Ct. 559, 100 L.Ed. 941. The facts leading up to this litigation, as correctly stated by the trial judge, are:

“Defendant is a manufacturing concern engaged in interstate commerce and operates a plant in Alexandria, Louisiana. A majority of its plant employees, 174 of the 225 employees, selected plaintiff as their bargaining agent and, on February 24, 1954, this fact was made known to George C. Fowler, acting manager of defendant’s plant. Mr. Fowler refused to enter into bargaining negotiations with plaintiff union because it had not been certified and was not recognized by the National Labor Relations Board, its officers having failed, among other things, to execute non-communist oaths as required by Section 9(h) of the National Labor Relations Act, commonly called the Taft-Hartley Act. When defendant would not bargain, plaintiff set up a picket line, manned by employees of defendant, at’ the plant and on public streets for the purpose of obtaining recognition of its agency and forcing unionization of the business.
“On March 2, 1954, the company instituted suit against the union and various individuals and obtained a temporary restraining order against further picketing. After a hearing on a rule nisi, a preliminary injunction issued, and later, after a trial of the merits was had on the same evidence adduced at the hearing for a preliminary injunction, a permanent injunction was issued.
“On a devolutive appeal to the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana the judgment of the lower court was affirmed, it being the view of the Supreme Court that an employer, sustaining irreparable damage to its business as the direct result of the picketing of its plant by a labor union with which it had refused to bargain because the union was not recognized by the National Labor Relations Board, was entitled to seek equitable redress in the courts of this state upon showing that the only forum (National Labor Relations Board) before which it was ordinarily entitled to bring its complaint, would not entertain jurisdiction on the ground that the union was not certified as required by Federal law. See 227 La. 1109, 81 So.2d 413. On writ of certiorari, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed, holding, in essence, that the employer was bereft of remedy as long as the picketing was peaceful. See 351 U.S. 62, 76 S.Ct. 559, 100 L.Ed. 941.
“After this decree by the Supreme Court of the United States, plaintiff filed the present suit for damages resulting from the erroneous issuance of the injunction. Plaintiff prayed for judgment against the Arkansas Oak Flooring Company and S. C. Griffith, surety on the injunction bond, for court costs, attorneys fees, printing briefs, travel expenses of attorneys, and loss of dues which plaintiff alleges it failed to collect from the union members while the injunction was in force. De[217]*217fendants admitted liability for court costs and deposited $828.11 in the Registry of the Court, but as to all other items claimed, the defendants filed an exception of no cause of action based upon the jurisprudence of Louisiana to the effect that a litigant who is successful in dissolving an injunction after a trial on the merits may not recover as damages such things as attorneys fees, cost of printing briefs, and other items of damage like those claimed by the plaintiff.
“This court (the district court) sustained the exception of no cause of action and dismissed the suit. However, on appeal the Supreme Court of Louisiana reversed and remanded the case for trial on the demands contained in plaintiff’s petition. See 238 La. 108, 113 So.2d 899.
“The Supreme Court of Louisiana held that the bond required by Section 6 of the Little Norris-LaGuardia Act, R.S. 23:844, is different from the bond that must be given in ordinary injunction cases. The Court held that this portion of the Little Norris-LaGuardia Act was not simply procedural but changed our substantive law on injunctions in labor disputes so as to provide that this statutory bond is conditioned upon the payment to the defendant in the injunction proceedings of any expenses, including attorneys fees and other special damages that may be incurred in the defense of the case if it be ultimately determined from the merits that the injunction was erroneously issued. Thus the Court held that the ordinary rule applicable in injunction cases, that attorneys fees and other special damages cannot be claimed after a trial on the merits, does not obtain when the suit is directed against liability on the bond filed in proceedings involving a labor dispute. The Court held further that the extraordinary relief granted by this statute is limited to the amount of the surety bond and that therefore the maximum recovery in this case would be $10,000.00.”

After this case was remanded to the trial court for further proceedings, the defendants filed an exception to the jurisdiction of the court ratione materiae. The trial judge maintained this exception on the authority of San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775, which was decided subsequent to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the instant case. From this judgment dismissing its suit, plaintiff has appealed to this court.

Both plaintiff and defendants concede that the determination of the issues presented here will depend upon the interpretation which is placed on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Gar-mon case, viz., whether the instant case falls within the area of labor-management relations in which state courts may adjudicate or whether it falls within the area preempted by Congress.

It is now well settled that where labor practices are either protected or prohibited by the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., Congress has pre-empted the field in labor relations matters which affect interstate commerce and has vested exclusive jurisdiction in the National Labor Relations Board to determine such labor disputes. It is equally well settled, however, that Congress did not intend to withdraw, and has not withdrawn, from the states all jurisdiction over labor relations matters which affect interstate commerce. Garner v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs and Helpers Local Union No. 776, 346 U.S. 485, 74 S.Ct. 161, 98 L.Ed. 228; United Construction Workers, etc. v. Laburnum Construction Corp., 347 U.S. 656, 74 S.Ct. 833, 98 L.Ed.

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

Related

Concord v. Robinson
121 U.S. 165 (Supreme Court, 1887)
Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
348 U.S. 468 (Supreme Court, 1955)
Guss v. Utah Labor Relations Board
353 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1957)
International Ass'n of MacHinists v. Gonzales
356 U.S. 617 (Supreme Court, 1958)
San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon
359 U.S. 236 (Supreme Court, 1959)
Gainey v. Local 71, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
113 S.E.2d 594 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1960)
Grunwald-Marx, Inc. v. Los Angeles Joint Board
343 P.2d 23 (California Supreme Court, 1959)
Cooperative Refinery Ass'n v. Williams
345 P.2d 709 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1959)
Miller v. Kansas City Power & Light Company
332 S.W.2d 18 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1960)
Arkansas Oak Flooring Co. v. United Mine Workers of America
81 So. 2d 413 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1955)
United Mines Workers v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co.
113 So. 2d 899 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1959)
Wax v. International Mailers Union
161 A.2d 603 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1960)
Dempsey v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.
24 Misc. 2d 98 (New York Supreme Court, 1960)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
129 So. 2d 215, 48 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2809, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 2068, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-mine-workers-of-america-v-arkansas-oak-flooring-co-lactapp-1961.