Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/430/290/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 16:25:58+00:00

Document:
A member and officer (petitioner's decedent) of respondent local carpenters' Union brought a tort action for damages in California state court against respondent Unions and Union officials, alleging in count two of the complaint that, because of a sharp disagreement between him and Union officials over various internal Union policies, respondents had intentionally engaged in outrageous conduct, threats, and intimidation, and had thereby caused him to suffer emotional distress resulting in bodily injury; and alleging in other counts that respondent local Union had discriminated against him in referrals for employment in its hiring hall because of his dissident intra-Union political activities, that the Union had breached the hiring hall provisions of the collective bargaining agreement with a contractors association by failing to refer him on a nondiscriminatory basis, and that such failure to comply with the collective bargaining agreement also breached his membership contract with the union. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the allegations of discrimination and breach of contract on the ground that federal law preempted state jurisdiction over them, but allowed the case to go to trial on count two. The jury returned a verdict of actual and punitive damages for the plaintiff, and the trial court entered a judgment on the verdict. The California Court of Appeal reversed, holding that state courts had no jurisdiction over the complaint since the "crux" of the action concerned employment relations and involved conduct arguably subject to the National Labor Relations Board's jurisdiction.
1. The National Labor Relations Act does not preempt the action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Pp. 430 U. S. 295-306.
complaints does not result in state regulation of federally protected conduct. Pp. 430 U. S. 301-302.
(b) The State, on the other hand, has a substantial interest in protecting its citizens from the kind of abuse of which the plaintiff complained, and that interest is no less worthy of recognition because it concerns protection from emotional distress caused by outrageous conduct, rather than protection from physical injury or damage to reputation. Pp. 430 U. S. 302-303.
(c) Viewed in light of the discrete concerns of the federal scheme of labor regulation and the state tort law, the potential for interference with the federal scheme by the state cause of action is insufficient to counterbalance the legitimate and substantial interest of the State in protecting its citizens, since the state tort action can be resolved without reference to any accommodation of the special interests of unions and members in the hiring hall context. Pp. 30305.
(d) To permit concurrent state court jurisdiction it is essential that the state tort be either unrelated to employment discrimination or a function of the particularly abusive manner in which the discrimination is accomplished or threatened, rather than a function of the actual or threatened discrimination itself P. 430 U. S. 305.
2. It is clear from the record that the trial of the claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress did not meet the above standards, since the evidence supporting the verdict for the plaintiff focuses less on the alleged "outrageous conduct" complained of than on employment discrimination; hence, the consequent risk that the verdict represented damages for employment discrimination, rather than for instances of intentional infliction of emotional distress precludes reinstatement of the trial court's judgment. P. 430 U. S. 306.
49 Cal.App.3d 614, 122 Cal.Rptr. 722, vacated and remanded.
The issue in this case is whether the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, preempts a tort action brought in state court by a Union member against the Union and its officials to recover damages for the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In April, 1969, petition filed in Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles an action for damages against the Union, the District Council and the International with which the Union was affiliated, and certain officials of the Union, including Business Agent Daley. In count two of his amended complaint, Hill alleged that the defendants had intentionally engaged in outrageous conduct, threats, and intimidation, and had thereby caused him to suffer grievous emotional distress resulting in bodily injury. In three other counts, he alleged that the Union had discriminated against him in referrals for employment because of his dissident intra-Union political activities, that the Union had breached the hiring hall provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between it and a contractors association by failing to refer him on a nondiscriminatory basis, and that the failure to comply with the collective bargaining agreement also constituted a breach of his membership contract with the Union. He sought $500,000 in actual, and $500,000 in punitive, damages.
"substantial or enduring, as distinguished from trivial or transitory. It must be of such substantial quantity or enduring quality that no reasonable man in a civilized society should be expected to endure it. Lability does not extend to mere insults, indignities, annoyances, petty or other trivialities."
The court also instructed that the National Labor Relations Board would not have jurisdiction to compensate petitioner for injuries such as emotional distress, pain and suffering, and medical expenses, nor would it have authority to award punitive damages. The court refused to give a requested instruction to the effect that the jury could not consider any evidence regarding discrimination with respect to employment opportunities or hiring procedures.
Appeal held that the state courts had no jurisdiction over the complaint, since the "crux" of the action concerned employment relations and involved conduct arguably subject to the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board. The court remanded "with instructions to render judgment for the defendants and dismiss the action." 49 Cal.App.3d at 631, 122 Cal.Rptr. at 732. The California Supreme Court denied review.
We granted certiorari to consider the applicability of the preemption doctrine to cases of this nature, 423 U.S. 1086 (1976). For the reasons set forth below we vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeal and remand for further proceedings.
"the broad powers conferred by Congress upon the National Labor Relations Board to interpret and to enforce the complex Labor Management Relations Act . . . necessarily imply that potentially conflicting 'rules of law, of remedy, and of administration' cannot be permitted to operate."
"When it is clear or may fairly be assumed that the activities which a State purports to regulate are protected by § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, or constitute an unfair labor practice under § 8, due regard for the federal enactment requires that state jurisdiction must yield. To leave the States free to regulate conduct so plainly within the central aim of federal regulation involves too great a danger of conflict between power asserted by Congress, and requirements imposed by state law."
we could not infer that Congress had deprived the States of the power to act."
"where the particular rule of law sought to be invoked before another tribunal is so structured and administered that, in virtually all instances, it is safe to presume that judicial supervision will not disserve the interests promoted by the federal labor statutes."
These exceptions "in no way undermine the vitality of the preemption rule." 386 U.S. at 386 U. S. 180. To the contrary, they highlight our responsibility in a case of this kind to determine the scope of the general rule by examining the state interests in regulating the conduct in question and the potential for interference with the federal regulatory scheme.
The nature of the inquiry is perhaps best illustrated by Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, supra. Linn, an assistant manager of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, filed a diversity action in federal court against a union, two of its officers, and a Pinkerton employee, alleging that the defendants had circulated a defamatory statement about him in violation of state law. If unfair labor practice charges had been filed, the Board might have found that the union violated § 8 by intentionally circulating false statements during an organizational campaign, or that the issuance of the malicious statements during the campaign had such a significant effect as to require that the election be set aside. Under a formalistic application of Garmon, the libel suit could have been preempted.
misleading in the later context, and, in any event, the court would have power to award Linn relief only if the statements were defamatory. Taken together, these factors justified an exception to the preemption rule.
The Court was careful, however, to limit the scope of that exception. To minimize the possibility that state libel suits would either dampen the free discussion characteristic of labor disputes or become a weapon of economic coercion, the Court adopted by analogy the standards enunciated in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254 (1964), and held that state damages actions in this context would escape preemption only if limited to defamatory statements published with knowledge or reckless disregard of their falsity. The Court also held that a complainant could recover damages only upon proof that the statements had caused him injury, including general injury to reputation, consequent mental suffering, alienation of associates, specific items of pecuniary loss, or any other form of harm recognized by state tort law. The Court stressed the responsibility of the trial judge to assure that damages were not excessive.
of violence are consistent with effective administration of the federal scheme: such actions can be adjudicated without regard to the merits of the underlying labor controversy. Automobile Workers v. Russell, supra at 356 U. S. 649 (Warren, C.J., dissenting).
Although cases like Linn and Russell involve state law principles with only incidental application to conduct occurring in the course of a labor dispute, it is well settled that the general applicability of a state cause of action is not sufficient to exempt it from preemption.
"[I]t [has not] mattered whether the States have acted through laws of broad general application rather than laws specifically directed towards the governance of industrial relations. [Footnote 9]"
a given class of cases must depend upon the nature of the particular interests being asserted and the effect upon the administration of national labor policies of concurrent judicial and administrative remedies. [Footnote 10]"
referrals, these allegations of tortious conduct might form the basis for unfair labor practice charges before the Board. On this basis, a rigid application of the Garmon doctrine might support the conclusion of the California courts that Hill's entire action was preempted by federal law. Our cases indicate, however, that inflexible application of the doctrine is to be avoided, especially where the State has a substantial interest in regulation of the conduct at issue and the State's interest is one that does not threaten undue interference with the federal regulatory scheme. With respect to Hill's claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, we cannot conclude that Congress intended exclusive jurisdiction to lie in the Board.
No provision of the National Labor Relations Act protects the "outrageous conduct" complained of by petitioner Hill in the second count of the complaint. Regardless of whether the operation of the hiring hall was lawful or unlawful under federal statutes, there is no federal protection for conduct on the part of union officers which is so outrageous that "no reasonable man in a civilized society should be expected to endure it." See supra at 430 U. S. 294. Thus, as in Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U. S. 53 (1966), and Automobile Workers v. Russell, supra, permitting the exercise of state jurisdiction over such complaints does not result in state regulation of federally protected conduct.
state jurisdiction in tort actions based on violence or defamation have not rested on the history of the tort at issue, but rather on the nature of the State's interest in protecting the health and wellbeing of its citizens.
the complaint Hill made allegations of discrimination in "job dispatching procedures" and "work assignments" which, standing alone, might well be preempted as the exclusive concern of the Board. The occurrence of the abusive conduct, with which the state tort action is concerned, in such a context of federally prohibited discrimination suggests a potential for interference with the federal scheme of regulation.
contrary, the tort action can be resolved without reference to any accommodation of the special interests of unions and members in the hiring hall context.
with federal regulation would be intolerable if state tort recoveries could be based on the type of robust language and clash of strong personalities that may be commonplace in various labor contexts. We also repeat that state trial courts have the responsibility in cases of this kind to assure that the damages awarded are not excessive. See Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U.S. at 383 U. S. 65-66.
infliction of emotional distress precludes reinstatement of the judgment of the Superior Court.
Hill died after the petition for a writ of certiorari was granted. On June 1, 1976, Joy A. Farmer, special administrator of Hill's estate, was substituted as petitioner. We will refer to Hill as the petitioner.
According to Hill, the Union accomplished this discrimination by removing his name from the top of the out-of-work list and placing it at the bottom, by referring him to jobs of short duration when more desirable work was available, and by referring him to jobs for which he was not qualified.
Hill did not appeal the Superior Court's ruling sustaining the demurrer with respect to the claims of discrimination and breach of contract, and we thus have no occasion to consider the applicability of the preemption doctrine to those counts.
Hill voluntarily dismissed the complaint against the International and one Union official, the trial court dismissed the complaint with respect to another Union official, and the jury entered a verdict in favor of two other Union officials.
"[I]n referring to decisions holding state laws preempted by the NLRA, care must be taken to distinguish preemption based on federal protection of the conduct in question . . . from that based predominantly on the primary jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board . . . , although the two are often not easily separable."
Railroad Trainmen v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 394 U. S. 369, 394 U. S. 383 n.19 (1969). The branch of the preemption doctrine most applicable to the instant case concerns the primary jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board.
The history of the Garmon doctrine was recently summarized in Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 290-291, and in Machinists v. Wisconsin Emp. Rel. Comm'n, 427 U.S. at 427 U. S. 138-139.
"[W]e [cannot] proceed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether each particular final judicial pronouncement does, or might reasonably be thought to, conflict in some relevant manner with federal labor policy. This Court is ill-equipped to play such a role and the federal system dictates that this problem be solved with a rule capable of relatively easy application, so that lower courts may largely police themselves in this regard."
Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, supra at 403 U. S. 289-290.
In addition to the judicially developed exceptions referred to in the text, Congress itself has created exceptions to the Board's exclusive jurisdiction in other classes of cases. Section 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 61 Stat. 158, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 187, authorizes anyone injured in his business or property by activity violative of § 8(b)(4) of the NLRA, 61 Stat. 140, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4), to recover damages in federal district court even though the underlying unfair labor practices are remediable by the Board. See Teamsters v. Morton, 377 U. S. 252 (1964). Section 301 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 185, authorizes suits for breach of a collective bargaining agreement even if the breach is an unfair labor practice within the Board's jurisdiction. See Smith v. Evening News Assn., 371 U. S. 195 (1962). Section 14(c)(2) of the NLRA, as added by Title VII, § 701(a) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 73 Stat. 541, 29 U.S.C. 164(c)(2), permits state agencies and state courts to assert jurisdiction over "labor disputes over which the Board declines, pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, to assert jurisdiction."
In Plumbers v. Borden, 373 U. S. 690 (1963), for example, an employee sued his union, which operated a hiring hall, claiming that the union had arbitrarily refused to refer him for employment on one particular occasion. He alleged that the union's conduct constituted both tortious interference with his right to contract for employment and breach of a promise, implicit in his membership arrangement with the union, not to discriminate unfairly against any member or deny him the right to work. Under these circumstances, concurrent state court jurisdiction would have impaired significantly the functioning of the federal system. If unfair labor practice charges had been filed, the Board might have concluded that the refusal to refer Borden was due to a lawful hiring hall practice, see Teamsters v. NLRB, 365 U. S. 667 (1961). Board approval of various hiring hall practices would be meaningless if state courts could declare those procedures violative of the contractual rights implicit between a member and his union. Accordingly, the state cause of action was preempted under Garmon. Similar reasoning prompted the Court to apply the Garmon rule in the companion case of Iron Workers v. Perko, 373 U. S. 701 (1963).
Machinists v. Gonzales, 356 U. S. 617 (1958), established another exception to the general rule of preemption for state law actions alleging expulsion from union membership in violation of the applicable union constitution and bylaws and seeking restoration to membership and damages due to the illegal expulsion. Gonzales was decided prior to this Court's adoption in Garmon of the current preemption test, and our decision in Lockridge makes it clear that "the full-blown rationale of Gonzales could not survive the rule of Garmon." Lockridge, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 295. At the same time, we stated that "Garmon did not cast doubt upon the result reached in Gonzales," id. at 403 U. S. 295, since Garmon cited Gonzales as an example of the nonapplicability of the normal preemption rule "where the activity regulated was a merely peripheral concern of the . . . Act." 359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 243.
Although the Lockridge decision has been the subject of extensive criticism, see, e.g., Bryson, A Matter of Wooden Logic: Labor Law Preemption and Individual Rights, 51 Texas L.Rev. 1037, 1050-1058 (1973); Cox, Labor Law Preemption Revisited, 85 Harv.L.Rev. 1337, 1368-1377 (1972), the instant case presents no occasion for us to reconsider the relationship between Lockridge and Gonzales. Whatever the scope of Gonzales after Garmon and Lockridge, the analysis used by the Court in those cases is consistent with the framework discussed in the text above. Lockridge held that the state court action at issue involved a "real and immediate" potential for conflict with the federal scheme, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 296, whereas the possibility that the state court in Gonzales "would directly and consciously implicate principles of federal law" was considered, "at best, tangential and remote." Ibid.
Discrimination in hiring hall referrals constitutes an unfair labor practice under §§ 8(b)(1)(A) and 8(b)(2) of the NLRA. See, e.g., Radio Officers v. NLRB, 347 U. S. 17 (1954); Operating Engineers Local 18, 205 N.L.R.B. 901 (1973), enf'd, 500 F.2d 48 (CA6 1974).
Prior to the filing of this suit, Hill filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Board with respect to one specific instance of alleged discrimination. He alleged that the Union violated §§ 8(b)(1)(A) and 8(b)(2) by refusing to honor an employer's request that he be referred for employment on a particular construction job. The Board awarded Hill $2,517 in backpay.
Whether a hiring hall practice is discriminatory, and therefore violative of federal law is a determination Congress has entrusted to the Board. See Teamsters v. NLRB, 365 U. S. 667 (1961). Whether there is federal preemption with respect to allegations of breach of a contractual obligation depends upon the nature of the obligation and the alleged breach. See Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 292-297, 403 U. S. 298-301. Casting a complaint in terms of breach of a membership agreement does not necessarily insulate a state court action from application of the preemption doctrine. See n 9, supra. Allegations of breach of the contract between the union and the employer stand on different ground, since, as noted earlier, § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, authorizes suits for breach of a collective bargaining agreement even if the breach is an unfair labor practice within the Board's jurisdiction. See n 8, supra.
In view of the potential for interference with the federal scheme of regulation, the trial court should be sensitive to the need to minimize the jury's exposure to evidence of employment discrimination in cases of this sort. Where evidence of discrimination is necessary to establish the context in which the state claim arose, the trial court should instruct the jury that the fact of employment discrimination (as distinguished from attendant tortious conduct under state law) should not enter into the determination of liability or damages.
Almost the entire section of petitioner's brief summarizing the trial transcript, see Brief for Petitioner 10, is directed at instances of Union discrimination against Hill with respect to employment opportunities. Moreover, counsel for petitioner, who was also petitioner's trial counsel, indicated at oral argument that the focus of the trial was on employment discrimination, rather than the intentional infliction of emotional distress: "We had to show simply two easy issues to the jury: one, what the [hiring hall] rules were; and two, were they fairly applied." Tr. of Oral Arg. 69. It is plain that those two elements are more relevant to the issue of discriminatory referrals than to the issue of infliction of emotional distress.
"[t]he allegations made in the plaintiff's second cause of action . . . sound in the state tort law of intentional infliction of emotional distress,"
but contend that the dominant focus of the evidence adduced at trial was on discriminatory hiring hall referrals. Brief for Respondents 28.
We, of course, express no view on the question whether those aspects of the case that are not preempted are sufficient under state law to amount to conduct "that no reasonable man in a civilized society should be expected to endure."

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