Westmoreland v. Gordons Transports, Inc.

181 So. 2d 859, 61 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2699, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 5551
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 10, 1966
DocketNo. 1988
StatusPublished

This text of 181 So. 2d 859 (Westmoreland v. Gordons Transports, Inc.) 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
Westmoreland v. Gordons Transports, Inc., 181 So. 2d 859, 61 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2699, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 5551 (La. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

BARNETTE, Judge.

Plaintiff filed this suit in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans on February 23, 1962, against his former employer and his labor union, praying for damages, jointly and in solido, for loss of past and future wages, mental anguish and suffering, and loss of credit rating on account of an alleged wrongful discharge from his employment June 20, 1960.

His action is founded on allegations of willful collusion between his employer and his labor union in violation of a labor-management contract of which he, as an employee and union member, was a beneficiary.

Both defendants filed exceptions of prescription and exceptions to the jurisdiction of the court over the subject matter of the complaint. The exception of prescription was overruled on the grounds that interruption had been effected by timely filing of other suits in the state and federal courts. Apparently the defendants have accepted this judgment as final since there has been no appeal therefrom and the issue is not urged here.

The exception to the jurisdiction of the court was sustained and plaintiffs suit dismissed May 31, 1965. It is from that judgment that plaintiff has appealed. It is only to the question of jurisdiction that we address ourselves now. In doing so, we must look to the federal law since the issues involves an application of provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449 (1935), 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq. (1965), insofar as an unfair labor practice and the preemptive jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board is concerned, and § 301(a) of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 61 Stat. 156 (1947), 29 U.S.C.A. § 185(a) (1965), relating to suits by and against labor organizations for contract violation.

We think the answer to the jurisdictional question — that is, whether the jurisdiction of the court is preempted by the National Labor Relations Board — can be found in the following recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court:

San Diego Bldg. Trades Council, etc. v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959); Local 100, United Ass’n of Journeymen, etc. v. Borden, 373 U.S. 690, 83 S.Ct. 1423, 10 L.Ed.2d 638 (1963); Local No. 207, Int'l Ass’n of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Iron Workers Union v. Perko, 373 U.S. 701, 83 S.Ct. 1429, 10 L.Ed.2d 646 (1963);

and

Charles Dowd Box Co. v. Courtney, 368 U.S. 502, 82 S.Ct. 519, 7 L.Ed.2d 483 (1962); Local 174, Teamsters, etc. v. Lucas Flour Co., 369 U.S. 95, 82 S.Ct. 571, 7 L.Ed.2d 593 (1962); Smith v. Evening News Ass’n, 371 U.S. 195, 83 S.Ct. 267, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962); and Humphrey v. Moore, 375 U.S. 335, 84 S.Ct. 363, 11 L.Ed.2d 370 (1964).

The first three of the above cases, which we will refer to as Garmon, Borden, and Perko, if applicable here, clearly sustain the dismissal of plaintiff’s suit on the exception to jurisdiction. Plaintiff, however, seeks to bring his case within the exceptions applied by the Supreme Court in the four-latter cases, which we will refer to as Courtney, Lucas, Evening News, and Humphrey.

Garmon, the leading case on state court jurisdiction of actions based on nonviolent activities which may or may not be within the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board, was decided in 1959. In that case, the Supreme Court of California had upheld the jurisdiction of its courts to award damages to various employers against a union which was picketing the employers even though the union was not certified by the NLRB to represent the plaintiffs’ employees. The complaint had initially been brought by the employers to [861]*861the NLRB, but the Board had declined jurisdiction, presumably because the amount of interstate commerce involved did not meet the monetary standard adopted by the Board in the exercise of its discretion.

The United States Supreme Court reversed the California Supreme Court, holding that, since the jurisdiction of the NLRB over unfair labor practices preempted the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts, the state court could not take jurisdiction over a cause of action that was within the cognizance of the Board, and that the Board itself must make the initial determination of its own jurisdiction. The Court went on to hold that the action of the NLRB in declining jurisdiction was not to be construed as a declaration by the Board that it lacked jurisdiction, and the refusal of the Board to act did not empower the state to act where its power would have been preempted otherwise. So long as the activities on which the suit was based could reasonably be argued to be unfair labor practices, and there was no finding by the NLRB that they were not, the state court had no jurisdiction.

In Borden the Supreme Court applied the Garmon preemption doctrine to an action by a union member against his union for refusing to refer him to an employer on a certain job. The Court indicated the various theories under which the action of the union could reasonably be argued to be an unfair labor practice under §§ 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act and held that the Texas state court did not have jurisdiction over the cause of action. The Perko case, decided on the same day as Borden, once again applied the Garmon doctrine to a suit by a union member brought in state court against his local union for conspiring to deprive him of his right to work and for securing his discharge in furtherance of the conspiracy. The Supreme Court showed the arguments which could be made in upholding an assertion that the complaint was based on an' ^'unfair labor practice and held the jurisdiction that the state court had exercised was preempted by the NLRB.

The Courtney, Lucas, and Evening News cases, all decided in 1962, involved suits under § 301(a) of the Labor-Management Relations Act. In Courtney, the Supreme Court upheld state court jurisdiction to enforce wage provisions of a labor contract in a suit brought by a union against an employer. The Court specifically rejected the employer’s attempt to draw an analogy to the Garmon situation. Lucas was a suit by an employer brought in state court against a union for damages resulting from a strike called in violation of a contract. The Court followed Courtney in upholding the jurisdiction of the state court, but added the requirement that the state courts apply federal law. In the Evening News case, the Court applied Lucas to uphold state court jurisdiction in an action by employees against their employer based on allegations of breach of contract arising from discrimination against the employees on account of their union membership. The Court conceded that the allegations charged an unfair labor practice, but refused to apply the Garmon doctrine, recognizing an exception to the doctrine in suits under § 301(a) of the Labor-Management Relations Act.

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Related

San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon
359 U.S. 236 (Supreme Court, 1959)
Charles Dowd Box Co. v. Courtney
368 U.S. 502 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Smith v. Evening News Assn.
371 U.S. 195 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Humphrey v. Moore
375 U.S. 335 (Supreme Court, 1964)

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181 So. 2d 859, 61 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2699, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 5551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/westmoreland-v-gordons-transports-inc-lactapp-1966.