Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/454/994/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:10:32+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 454 › UNITED CREDIT BUREAU OF AMERICA INC. v. N.L.R.B.
The UNITED CREDIT BUREAU OF AMERICA, INC.
tional Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to empower the NLRB to enjoin a state- court damages action between two private entities, I dissent from the denial of certiorari.
lation."3 The NLRB ordered petitioner to dismiss its damages action and reimburse Anderson for her legal expenses incurred in defending that suit. 4 The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 643 F.2d 1017, enforced the NLRB's order, rejecting, inter alia, petitioner's contention that its state-court action was not pre-empted by federal labor law jurisdiction under Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180 (1978).
and comity comprehended by the Anti-Injunction Act should not apply to the NLRB as well. As this Court has explained in Locomotive Engineers, the premise of the Act is that ours is a country of essentially two separate legal systems. 398 U.S., at 286. Each system functions independently of the other. Our lower federal courts do not have the power to review the decisions of state courts. Only this Court has such a power, and we cannot exercise that power unless some federal issue or interest is at stake. 28 U.S.C. 1257. This dual system cannot function absent respect by each for the judicial process of the other. Federal interference with the States' judicial processes is no less contrary to the policies underlying 2283 if that interference comes from a federal agency rather than from a federal court.
I do not doubt that 8(a)(4) of the NLRA serves an important federal interest in ensuring employees that they may file unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB without fear of reprisal from their employer. Nevertheless, such an interest is insufficient to justify the massive intrusion into the State's judicial processes undertaken by the NLRB in this case. This Court has held that a federal court may not enjoin a pending lawsuit in state court even when "those proceedings interfere with a protected federal right or invade an area preempted by federal law, even when the interference is unmistakably clear." Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Locomotive Engineers, supra, at 294; see Clothing Workers v. Richman Brothers Co., 348 U.S. 511, 517, 456 (1955).
interfered with the NLRB's ability to consider the merits of a matter within its exclusive jurisdiction. If the NLRB concludes that a pending state-court proceeding interferes with its jurisdiction, it may seek an injunction in a federal district court. Id., at 505-506- 703; see 29 U.S.C. 160(j).
Footnote 1 The complaint was the only item admitted into evidence and no testimony was elicited by any party.
Footnote 2 The NLRB purported to rely on the "Clyde Taylor" doctrine, Clyde Taylor, 127 N.L.R.B. 103 (1960), for the proposition that the filing of a lawsuit in state court may constitute an unfair labor practice and that, as such, may be enjoined by the NLRB. In Clyde Taylor, however, the NLRB held only that an employer's threat to sue an employee for libel because of the latter's filing of unfair labor practices charges with the NLRB constituted an unfair labor practice. Id., at 108. "By this, we do not mean to deny the existence of the normal right of all persons to resort to the civil courts to obtain an adjudication of their claims." Ibid. In accord with this caveat, the NLRB held that the employer's obtaining an injunction in state court banning peaceful picketing resorted to by a union to protest unlawful discharges did not constitute an unfair labor practice. Id., at 109. "[T]he Board should accommodate its enforcement of the Act to the right of all persons to litigate their claims in court, rather than condemn the exercise of such a right as an unfair labor practice." Ibid.
Footnote 3 Thus, the NLRB did not restrict its inquiry to ascertaining the intent behind the suit or its potential coercive effects upon employees who wish to file charges with the NLRB. In Power Systems, supra, the NLRB also examined the facts underlying the complaint to determine whether the employer had a reasonable basis for filing the lawsuit. Id., at 449-450. That the NLRB will now examine the merits of the civil action is made clear in Bill Johnson's Restaurants, Inc., 249 N.L.R.B. 155, 164-165 (1980).
Footnote 4 In Television Wisconsin, Inc., supra, however, the NLRB held that it would be improper for it to order the union to reimburse the employees for the legal expenses they incurred in defending against the damages action. Id., at 781. The NLRB relied upon the "American rule" against providing legal expenses to the prevailing party in a lawsuit from the loser and this Court's decision in Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240 (1975).
Footnote 5 In this regard, it should be noted that the state court in the instant case has dismissed petitioner's action against Anderson. App. to Pet. for Cert. A-7. The petition is silent, however, as to whether the lawsuit was dismissed because the complaint failed to state a cause of action under state law or because the subject matter of the dispute was pre-empted by federal law under Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180 (1978).

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