Source: http://openjurist.org/387/us/556
Timestamp: 2015-08-03 22:09:01
Document Index: 571849051

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1391', '§ 151', '§ 1391', '§ 1391', '§ 109', '§ 1400']

387 US 556 Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Co v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen | OpenJurist
387 U.S. 556 - Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Co v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Home
387 US 556 Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Co v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen 387 U.S. 556
87 S.Ct. 1746
18 L.Ed.2d 954
The DENVER AND RIO GRANDE WESTERN RAILROAD CO., Petitioner,v.BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN et al.
The question here concerns the proper venue for a suit against a labor union, an unincorporated association, under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), which at the time this action was brought read as follows: 'A civil action wherein jurisdiction is not founded solely on diversity of citizenship may be brought only in the judicial district where all defendants reside, except as otherwise provided by law.'
In December 1959 and January 1960, the National Railroad Adjustment Board issued monetary awards in favor of certain members of respondent union on their claims for breach of collective bargaining contracts between the union and petitioner, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Company. The railroad refused to honor the awards, the union struck to enforce them and the strike was permanently enjoinedby the District Court. 185 F.Supp. 369, aff'd, 10 Cir., 290 F.2d 266, cert. denied, 366 U.S. 966, 81 S.Ct. 1925, 6 L.Ed.2d 1256. The railroad then sued the union for damages in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, also joining as defendants R. E. Carroll, chairman of the union's General Grievance Committee on the property of petitioner, and the chairmen of various local lodges of the union. The complaint alleged that the defendants had breached their duties under the Railway Labor Act, 44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. The District Court overruled the union's motion to dismiss for improper venue, held the strike illegal because the union had failed to exhaust its statutory remedies to enforce the Adjustment Board awards, and awarded damages based on the railroad's loss of traffic caused by the illegal strike. The judgment ran against both the union and Carroll, the case against the other defendants being dismissed for failure of proof. The Court of Appeals, 367 F.2d 137, reversed, holding that the union could be sued under § 1391(b) only in the district of its residence and that its residence was not in Colorado.1 Because of the seeming conflict with Rutland R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Eng'rs, 2 Cir., 307 F.2d 21, we granted certiorari. 385 U.S. 1000, 87 S.Ct. 719, 17 L.Ed.2d 541. We reverse.
Section 1391(b) is the general venue statute governing transitory causes of action in the federal courts where jurisdiction does not depend wholly on diversity of citizenship. Following its amendment in 1966, 80 Stat. 1111, the section permits suit either in the district where all of the defendants reside or in the district where the claim arose. At the time this suit was brought, however, venue lay only at the defendant's residence, as had been the case since 1887. 24 Stat. 552, as corrected by 25 Stat. 433 (1888). Thus for almost 80 years proper venue in federal-question cases was limited to the district of the defendant's residence, whether the defendant was an individual, a corporation, or an unincorporated association such as this respondent. During all of this time, down to and including the 1966 amendment, Congress has not expressly defined the residence of an unincorporated association for purposes of the general venue statute. The same was true with respect to corporations until 1948 when Congress directed that a corporation could be sued in the judicial district 'in which it is incorporated or licensed to do business or is doing business, and such judicial district shall be regarded as the residence of such corporation for venue purposes.' 28 U.S.C. § 1391(c). Congress has maintained its silence, however, with respect to the residence of the unincorporated association. The resolution of that issue, as was true for the corporation prior to 1948, has been left to the courts. The issue is now here for the first time.
In Sperry Prods., Inc. v. Association of American Railroads, 132 F.2d 408, 145 A.L.R. 694, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dealt with the issue of what district an unincorporated association may be said to inhabit under the special venue statute governing patent suits, then 28 U.S.C. § 109 (1940 ed.), now 28 U.S.C. § 1400. That court thought the association should be treated like a corporation. Under the decisions of this Court, corporations had a single residence for venue purposes, the State of their incorporation. Likewise, the Sperry court thought the unincorporated association should be considered as having a single residence, in its case its principle place of business. Neirbo Co. v. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., 308 U.S. 165, 60 S.Ct. 153, 84 L.Ed. 167, had already determined, however, that corporations, while having only one residence, nevertheless