Evening star., 1948-06-08
s0perafor Misconduct
I'm Pension Battle
Charged by Lewis

John L. Lewis today accused coal
mine operators of misconduct" and
"pernicious actions" in their fight to
block payment of 500 monthly pen
sions to his United Mine Workers.
The charges were hurled at Ezra
Van Horn, the operators trustee of
the UNIV welfare and retirement
fund in new papers filed In District
Court by Walter M. Bastian and
A. K. Shipe, attorneys for Mr.. Lewis.
Specifically, the action taken to-
day by Mr.. Bastian and Mr.. Shipe
was aimed at dismissal Of the Van
Horn suit to invalidate the Bridges
plan for payment of pensions to
miners, and the subsequent Van
Horn petition for summary judg-
ment. Justice T. Alan Goldsborough
will hear the whole controversy
June 10.
Reveals Full Record.
Mr.. Lewis revealed for the first
time the full record of meetings of
the three-man welfare fund trustee
board, during which repeated ef-
forts to begin the pension payments
were made. Minutes Of 13 trustee
meetings were filed with the court.
Mr.. Lewis is the UNIV trustee, Mr..
Van Horn the operators and Sena-
tor Bridges, Republican, of New
Hampshire, is the neutral.
Il am making these minutes
available for inspection by the
court" Mr.. Lewis said in his af11-
davit, 80 that the obstructive, de-
laying and frustrating acts and
conduct of the plaintiff CMr. Van
Horn may be fully. completely and
finally disclosed and revealed to the
end that the court may see and OBJ
serve the naked truth Of plaintiffs
pernicious actions"
Failure Of the trustees to agree
on pension plan as provided by
the coal industry contract led to a
long mine strike this spring. The
walkout ended after Senator Bridges
and Mr.. Lewis voted a plan over
Mr.. Van Horns protest, to pay 500
monthly pensions to miners 81 and
older, with 20 years service. Later
Mr.. Van Horn brought suit to knock
out the Bridges plan, charging 1t
would bankrupt the fund and was
unlawful under the Hartley
Act.
Van Horn Votes Cited.
In support of charges that Mr..
Van Horn "obstructed" efforts to
activate the welfare fund - now
nearly $4,000, ,000-attorneys for the
UNIV showed that he had voted
against some seven resolutions de-
signed to start payments since he
opposed the Bridges plan.
The Lewis affidavit accused Mr..
Van Horn of deliberately" trying to
'mislead and deceive" the court by
using excerpts from the trustee
meetings.
His vain and inglorious effort to
defend his misconduct as trustee
vanishes before the fatal truth as
disclosed in the complete minutes
Of the meetings Mr.. Lewis
continued His efforts to defend
himself by taking excerpts from the
context of the said meetings are
futile and puerile.
Charges Shameful Conduct.
The entire record shows
that his (Mr. Van Horns) conduct
Is shameful and in utter disregard
of his duties as trustee"
Another paper filed by Mr.. Shipe
and Mr.. Bastian struck at the argu-
ments for invalidation of the Bridges
plan, including the Van Horn cons
tention that decisions Of the trus-
tees must be unanimous. The attor-'
neys argued the UNIV fund is "a
charitable trust"-a vast public
concern"-rather than a private
trust, and therefore actions could
be decided by majority trustee vote.
They said it is recognized in the
coal contract, providing for payment
of pensions and other welfare bene-
fits, that there would not always
be unanimity among the trustees,
and provision was made for neu-
tral trustee to settle such deadlocks.
The attorneys said the Bridges
plan does not violate the Taft
Hartley Act and provision is made
for adjustment of pension payments
If the 500 per month proves to be
more than the fund will bear.