United States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters

782 F. Supp. 243, 141 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2571, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 508, 1992 WL 6506
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided January 17, 1992·No. No. 88 CIV. 4486 (DNE)·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

EDELSTEIN, District Judge:

This opinion emanates from the voluntary settlement in the action commenced by the plaintiffs United States of America (the “Government”) against the defendants International Brotherhood of Teamsters (the “IBT”) and the IBT's General Executive Board (the “GEB”) embodied in the voluntary consent order entered March 14, 1989 (the “Consent Decree”). The Consent Decree provided for three Court-appointed officials, the Independent Administrator to oversee the remedial provisions, the Investigations Officer to bring charges against corrupt IBT members, and the Election Officer to oversee the electoral process leading up to and including the 1991 election for International Officers (collectively, the “Court Officers”). The goal of the Consent Decree is to rid the IBT of the hideous influence of organized crime through the election and prosecution provisions.

This matter arises out of the refusal by the seven incumbent officers of Local 7071 to relinquish control of the Local Union to the newly elected officers voted into office by the Local Union membership in a court ordered rerun election. The incumbent officers refusal to relinquish control violates the IBT Constitution, the wishes of the Local Union membership as expressed in their vote, and the direction of the IBT General President. Given the urgency of this matter, the incumbent members of IBT Local 707 and their counsel were given until 12:00 noon on January 16, 1992 to file papers. The Government and the Local 707 Pride Coalition (the “Pride Coalition”) were given until the close of business January 16, 1992 to submit reply papers.

I. BACKGROUND2

A. Knowing Association With A Member of La Cosa Nostra

This matter stems from the Independent Administrator’s November 18, 1991 decision in Application LX, in which he found that the Investigations Officer had proved charges that three former officers of Local 707, James Buckley, Dominick Milano and David Morris, among others, knowingly associated with a member of La Cosa Nostra, Nicholas Grancio.3 As a penalty, the Independent Administrator permanently banned these three men from the IBT. While the Independent Administrator often stays the imposition of penalties pending review by this Court, the Independent Administrator did not do so in this case because Buckley, Milano, and Morris were running on an incumbent slate in the Local 707 officer election.4 The Independent Administrator did not believe it was proper to allow persons permanently banned from the IBT to run in an IBT election. This Court affirmed the Independent Administrator’s decision in a January 16, 1992 Memorandum & Order.

B. The Rerun Election

A problem arose, however, because the Local 707 election ballots, which listed the suspended officers as candidates, had already been mailed to the membership be[245]*245fore the Independent Administrator issued his decision in Application LX. The ballots were scheduled to be counted on December 7, 1991 by the Honest Ballot Association (the “HBA”), an independent organization retained by Local 707 to conduct the election. On November 22, 1991, the IBT’s General Counsel contacted the office of the Independent Administrator and reported that the IBT had received a number of inquiries regarding the impact of the Independent Administrator’s decision in Application LX on the then pending Local 707 election. After consultation with the IBT’s General Counsel’s Office, the Independent Administrator issued a letter on November 25,1991, which set forth a resolution of the situation. The Independent Administrator directed that: (1) the Local terminate the election process then underway; (2) a new nominations meeting be held within ten days for all Local 707 officer positions; (3) the respondents barred from the IBT in Application LX would not be eligible for nomination to any position; (4) nominated candidates seeking election to the positions to which they were originally nominated would be considered automatically nominated to those positions; and (5) nominated candidates who chose to run for a position other than the one to which they were originally nominated had to be nominated to run for such new position at the nominations meeting. Any objections to this plan had to be filed with this Court before the close of business on December 2, 1991.

The Pride Coalition filed an objection to the plan, asking this Court to vacate the Independent Administrator's plan and to order the original election to proceed to its conclusion. Neither the incumbent officers of Local 707 nor any other party filed objections. By an Order dated December 4, 1991, this Court: (1) denied the objections of the Pride Coalition to the Independent Administrator’s plan; (2) ordered that the procedure set forth in the Independent Administrator’s November 25, 1991 letter be followed; (3) ordered that the new nominations meeting scheduled for December 5, 1991, go forward; (4) directed the Independent Administrator to take all steps that he deemed necessary to supervise the nomination process and election; and (5) directed the Independent Administrator to inform the membership of Local 707 of the events that precipitated the cancelation of the first election.

This Court further ordered that:

Without limiting the authority of the Independent Administrator, he shall be entitled: (1) to attend the nominations meeting or have one or more representatives attend in his place; (2) to make, or have his representatives make, whatever announcements he deems appropriate at the nominations meeting; (3) to distribute an informative notice to the Local 707 members along with the new ballots that will be distributed to them; and (4) to direct the IBT to take all necessary steps to assist him in performing his duties as defined in (l)-(3), supra, including, but not limited to, the appointment of an International Representative to monitor Local 707 pending the completion of the election.

(December 4,1991 Order at 5). In addition, this Court ordered that the ballots were to be received by the HBA no later than 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 8, 1992, and tallied at 10:00 a.m. on January 8, 1992, at the offices of the HBA. Id.

As ordered, the new nominations meeting took place on December 5, 1991. Two representatives of the Independent Administrator’s office attended the meeting, as did Joseph Konowe, the IBT International Representative assigned to the matter by General President McCarthy. The Row A Slate nominated new candidates. The Pride Coalition Slate remained intact as provided for in this Court’s December 4, 1991 order. Along with the new ballots, the Independent Administrator enclosed a notice, in both English and Spanish (attached to this Opinion & Order as Exhibit A), to members of Local 707 explaining why the election had to be rerun. At a meeting held at the offices of the HBA on December 12, 1991, a copy of the notice was reviewed and approved by both slates, the Executive Board’s attorney, and Mr. Konowe.

[246]*246Representatives of the Independent Administrator’s office and Mr. Konowe attended the counting of the ballots at the HBA’s offices on January 8,1992. On that date, all members of the Pride Coalition Slate were elected and all members of the Row A Slate suffered defeat.

C.

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United States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 782 F. Supp. 243, 141 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2571, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 508, 1992 WL 6506 (S.D.N.Y. 1992).

782 F. Supp. 243 (United States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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