Source: https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/re-catalano-23251
Timestamp: 2020-08-05 07:57:04
Document Index: 527407293

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 602', '§ 552', '§ 552', '§ 527', '§ 527', 'art 5', 'art 3']

In re Catalano - 29 Cal.3d 1 - Wed, 02/11/1981 | California Supreme Court Resources
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Citation 29 Cal.3d 1
In re Catalano , 29 Cal.3d 1
(Opinion by Tobriner, J., with Bird, C. J., Mosk and Newman, JJ., concurring. Richardson, J., concurred in the result. Separate concurring opinion by Clark, J.) [29 Cal.3d 2]
Petitioners (hereafter defendants), authorized representatives of the carpenters' union, entered a construction site to inspect safety conditions and prepare a shop steward's report. When they refused to leave upon request by an agent of the landowner, defendants were arrested and convicted of trespassing. (Pen. Code, § 602, subd. (k)(1).) fn. 1 Maintaining that the record demonstrates that their conduct did not violate the trespass statute, defendants petition us for writs of habeas corpus. fn. 2 [29 Cal.3d 4]
Since the case presented primarily an issue of law, trial was brief. fn. 3 The parties stipulated to the prosecution's case, that "on September 25, 1978, each of the defendants ... entered ... [the] Stonecraft Homes [29 Cal.3d 5] jobsite ... and refused and failed to leave such land upon being requested to do so by the owner of such land or his agent."
Defendants further testified that it was customary for union business agents to enter construction sites to conduct safety inspections and prepare steward's reports. Agents of three other unions testified they had entered the Stonecraft Homes jobsite to inspect the property and check on working conditions; they agreed that such inspections and reports were customary in the construction trades. [29 Cal.3d 6]
In an oral opinion, the court found that defendants were at the jobsite "to check on working conditions in compliance with safety regulations and to check the books of the various people on the job ... to find out whether there were union or non-union people working at the job." The court assumed, however, that defendants' failure to halt such activities and leave immediately on request violated section 602, subdivision (k)(1), unless defendants could claim the protection of section 552.1. fn. 4 The court held, however, that section 552.1 authorized safety inspections and other lawful union activity only on industrial property subject to posting under the industrial trespass law (§§ 552-555).) fn. 5 Finding that the Stonecraft Homes jobsite was not property subject [29 Cal.3d 7] to posting under that act, it concluded that the protective reach of section 552.1 did not extend to defendants' activities. fn. 6
Defendants asked the appellate department to certify the case for transfer to the Court of Appeal; the appellate department denied the request on the ground that it was filed one day too late. fn. 7 Defendants individually petitioned the Court of Appeal for habeas corpus. When that court denied their petitions defendants filed for habeas corpus in this court. We issued an order to show cause and stayed execution of the sentence pending disposition of the matter. [29 Cal.3d 8]
Our decision in In re Zerbe (1964) 60 Cal.2d 666 [36 Cal.Rptr. 286, 388 P.2d 182, 10 A.L.R.3d 840] establishes defendants' right to petition for habeas corpus. In Zerbe, a union picket was convicted of trespass under a related subdivision of section 602, and sentenced to a fine of $26.25 or five days in jail. We ordered him discharged from custody, stating that "a defendant is entitled to habeas corpus if there is no material dispute as to the facts relating to his conviction and if it appears that the statute under which he was convicted did not prohibit his conduct." (P. 668.) That principle justifies our review, on writ of habeas corpus, of defendants' contention that their conduct did not violate section 602, subdivision (k)(1).
[2] Although the chief use of habeas corpus has been to obtain the release of persons held in actual, physical custody, "[h]istory, usage, and precedent can leave no doubt that, besides physical imprisonment, there are other restraints on a man's liberty, restraints not shared by the public generally, which have been thought sufficient in the English-speaking world to support the issuance of habeas corpus." (Jones v. Cunningham (1963) 371 U.S. 236, 240 [9 L.Ed.2d 285, 289, 83 S.Ct. 373, 92 A.L.R.2d 675].) Thus a prisoner released on bail, although not actually confined, is eligible to seek habeas corpus (In re Petersen (1958) 51 Cal.2d 177 [331 P.2d 24]); similarly a parolee may apply for that writ (Jones v. Cunningham, supra, 371 U.S. 236; In re Marzec (1945) 25 Cal.2d 794, 797 [154 P.2d 873].)
Two decisions relating to prisoners at large on their own recognizance bear particularly on this issue. In In re Smiley (1967) 66 Cal.2d 606 [58 Cal.Rptr. 579, 427 P.2d 179], we rejected cases distinguishing between release on bail and release on recognizance, noting that a prisoner released without bail is nevertheless under restraints not shared by the general public. (P. 613.) Denial of the writ of habeas corpus to [29 Cal.3d 9] such a prisoner, we observed, would merely postpone relief; the prisoner could upon return to actual custody immediately file his petition and seek release on his own recognizance pending decision on that petition. (P. 614.) We concluded that a person released on his own recognizance was under sufficient constructive custody to permit him to apply for habeas corpus.
In 1973 the United States Supreme Court considered the same issue. Relying in part on our decision in Smiley, the court issued habeas corpus on behalf of a prisoner at large on his own recognizance. Habeas corpus, the court stated, is not a "'static, narrow, formalistic remedy' ... but one which must retain the 'ability to cut through barriers of form and procedural mazes.'" (Hensley v. Municipal Court (1973) 411 U.S. 345, 349-350 [36 L.Ed.2d 294, 299, 93 S.Ct. 1591].) A prisoner released on his own recognizance, the court stated, is subject to restraint not shared by the public at large; denial of relief would be pointless since it "would do no more than postpone this habeas corpus action until petitioner had begun service of his sentence." (P. 352 [36 L.Ed.2d, p. 300].) "Plainly, we would badly serve the purposes and the history of the writ to hold that under these circumstances the petitioner's failure to spend even 10 minutes in jail is enough to deprive the [court] of power to hear his ... claim." (Pp. 352-353 [36 L.Ed.2d, p. 301].)
We noted earlier that a defendant is entitled to habeas corpus if the trial record, without material factual dispute, demonstrates that the [29 Cal.3d 10] statute under which he was convicted did not prohibit his conduct. (See p. 6, ante.) We therefore turn to the question whether section 602, subdivision (k)(1), prohibits the conduct of defendants.
As we shall explain, the Legislature drafted section 602, the basic trespass statute, for general application and not specifically with union activities in mind. Specific provisions of both section 602 and related trespass statutes, however, demonstrate an overall legislative policy that the broad trespass statutes are not intended to apply to otherwise lawful union activity. Thus we cannot read each subdivision of the trespass law [29 Cal.3d 11] in isolation but must apply the general principle of statutory construction that statutes are to be read in order to harmonize the statutory scheme and not to produce absurd results. Numerous decisions of this court, which we shall review, have applied that general principle to the subject of union activities on the jobsite. In accord with these decisions, we conclude that regardless of whether property is "posted industrial property," property subject to posting, or other, less sensitive property, trespass statutes do not apply to lawful union activity.
In re Zerbe, supra, 60 Cal.2d 666, the earliest of the crucial decisions establishing California labor policy on this issue, involved the relationship between section 602 and the industrial trespass law, sections 552 through 555.5. The latter act establishes a stringent trespass law to restrict entry upon industrial properties that pose an extreme danger to the casual trespasser. fn. 10 At the same time, however, the industrial trespass law provides a specific exemption for lawful union conduct. Section 552.1 states that the industrial trespass law does not prohibit "the lawful activities of labor unions, or members thereof"; in particular, it does not prohibit "[a]ny lawful activity for the purpose of investigating the safety of working conditions on posted property by a representative of a labor union. fn. 11
In Zerbe, a union agent entered railroad property during a dispute with an employer served by the railroad. He was convicted of trespassing in violation of section 602, subdivision (l), which prohibits "entering and occupying real property." Although railroad property was described in section 554 as industrial property "which may be posted," the railroad had not in fact posted "no trespassing" signs. Because the property thus was not "posted industrial property" (Cotton v. Superior Court (1961) 56 Cal.2d 459, 463 [15 Cal.Rptr. 65, 364 P.2d 241]), the trial court held Zerbe was not protected by section 552.1.
We granted Zerbe's petition for habeas corpus and overturned the conviction. Although the property entered by Zerbe was not literally posted industrial property, we reasoned that it would be anomalous to impose penal liability on Zerbe because the landowner had failed to post the property against trespass. Despite the fact that section 552.1 does not on its face bar prosecution under the general trespass statute, [29 Cal.3d 12] we held that "Sections 552-555.5 of the Penal Code must be read together with subdivision (l) of section 602, and that subdivision must be treated as also subject to the labor activity exception when, as here, unposted property of the type designated in the posting law is entered." (Pp. 668-669.) (Italics added.) fn. 12
One year later, in Schwartz-Torrance Investment Corp. v. Bakery & Confectionery Workers' Union (1964) 61 Cal.2d 766 [40 Cal.Rptr. 233, 394 P.2d 921], we considered union activity on property which was not subject to posting under the industrial trespass law. The issue before us was whether an employer could enjoin peaceful union picketing in a shopping center. Reversing the injunction, we stated that: "The Legislature has expressly declared that the public policy of California favors concerted activities of employees for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. [Citations.] Moreover, the Legislature has enacted this policy into an exception to the criminal trespass law. (Pen. Code, § 552.1.) Thus recently we reversed the conviction of a labor union official for picketing on the property of a nonparticipant in the labor dispute. Construing section 552.1, which excepts from the criminal trespass statute any 'lawful activity for the purpose of engaging in any organizational effort on behalf of any labor union ...' we concluded that '... the Legislature in dealing with trespasses ... has specifically subordinated the rights of the property owner to those of persons engaging in lawful labor activities.' (In re Zerbe (1964) 60 Cal.2d 666, 668.) The policy of the state as expressed [29 Cal.3d 13] in the Labor Code accords with that embodied in federal legislation." (P. 769.) (Fns. omitted.)
Finally, in our recent decision in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. San Diego County Dist. Council of Carpenters (1979) 25 Cal.3d 317 [158 Cal.Rptr. 370, 599 P.2d 676], we again ruled that lawful union activity at the jobsite was immune from prosecution under section 602. Although the union picketing in Sears was lawful activity under the Moscone Act (Code Civ. Proc., § 527.3), Sears argued that it was entitled to enjoin that picketing on the privately owned sidewalk surrounding its store because the picketing "constituted a criminal trespass under subdivisions (j), (k), or (l) of Penal Code section 602." (P. 330, fn. 9.) In rejecting that argument, we replied that "it is unnecessary to embark upon a detailed analysis of that section, for union activity which is authorized by state labor law constitutes an exception to the criminal trespass statutes." (Id.)
When the 1978 amendment to subdivision (n) was enacted, it was already well settled that lawful union activity at the jobsite did not violate criminal trespass statutes. (See Labor Board v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., supra, 351 U.S. 105; Schwartz-Torrance Investment Corp. v. Bakery & Confectionery Workers' Union, supra, 61 Cal.2d 766; In re Zerbe, supra, 60 Cal.2d 666.) Thus we stated in Sears that the amendment to subdivision (n) "merely codifies existing law; indeed, union activity protected [29 Cal.3d 14] by state or federal labor law clearly does not violate any subdivision of Penal Code section 602." fn. 14 (P. 331, fn. 9.)
We turn to the question whether the activities for which defendants entered the jobsite -- to conduct a safety inspection and prepare a steward's report -- constituted "lawful union activity" exempt from the criminal trespass laws. To answer that question, we look to the customary and accepted practices of the construction industry, and to a balance of the respective interests of the union and the landowner. Both [29 Cal.3d 15] inquiries in the present case indicate the lawfulness of defendants' actions.
Only lawful union activity is exempt from prosecution for trespass. As defendants acknowledge, if a union representative goes beyond the scope of lawful union activity by interfering with the construction work or damaging the property, the owner may properly insist that he leave. Failure to leave, under these circumstances, would violate section 602, subdivision (k)(1). fn. 17 [29 Cal.3d 16]
In short, the conviction cannot be sustained on the ground advanced by the district attorney. It rests instead on the mistaken premise that union representatives conducting safety inspections and other lawful union activity on "nonindustrial" property must leave that property immediately on the owner's request. We reject that premise, and hold that union representatives performing lawful union activity at the jobsite do not violate section 602 by refusing to accede to an arbitrary request by the owner. Accordingly, we conclude that defendants' conduct came within the exception to section 602 barring prosection for lawful labor activities and thus that section 602, subdivision (k)(1), did not prohibit that conduct. [29 Cal.3d 17]
Let writs of habeas corpus issue directing that defendants be discharged from custody. (See In re Zerbe, supra, 60 Cal.2d 666, 670.)
I agree with the majority that Penal Code sections 552 to 555.5 and section 602 relating to trespasses on property must be harmonized and read together. Thus, exemptions for union activity in sections 552.1 and 602, subdivision (n), should be read into section 602, subdivision (k)(1). Those exemptions reflect legislative determination to permit particular labor union activity on specified business and agricultural properties. It would be unreasonable to conclude the Legislature intended such activities to be lawful by specifically exempting them from one trespass statute and at the same time intended them to be criminal under another trespass statute. (See In re Zerbe (1963) 60 Cal.2d 666, 668-669 [36 Cal.Rptr. 286, 388 P.2d 182, 10 A.L.R.3d 840].)
Section 602, subdivision (n), exempts "lawful labor union activities which are permitted to be carried out on the property by the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act ... or by the National Labor Relations Act." The exemptions are limited to permitted conduct under either of the two enactments. Subdivision (n) should not be read as exempting conduct as to which the enactments are inapplicable. The National Labor Relations Board dismissed a charge of employer unfair labor practice, and it does not appear that petitioners' conduct is protected by either enactment. Accordingly, the subdivision (n) exemption is not here applicable. [29 Cal.3d 18]
Nothing in In re Zerbe, supra, 60 Cal.2d 666, warrants extending the section 552.1 exemption to property which is not enumerated in section 554. In that case, an official of a labor union engaged in picketing a factory sought to establish a picket at the junction of a main railroad and a spur track serving the factory. After he refused to leave the property, the official was arrested and convicted of violating a general trespass statute -- former Penal Code section 602, subdivision (l). Granting a writ of habeas corpus, this court concluded that the exemption for union activities in section 552.1 was to be applied in prosecutions for violation of section 602, subdivision (l), and that because a railroad right-of-way was among enumerated properties on which lawful labor union activity could be conducted, the petitioner did not violate the subdivision (l). (60 Cal.2d at pp. 668-670.) There is nothing in Zerbe to suggest that the union activity exemption of section 552.1 extends to property not enumerated in section 554.
Similarly, Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. San Diego County Dist. Council of Carpenters (1979) 25 Cal.3d 317, 330-331 [158 Cal.Rptr. 370, 599 P.2d 676], holds merely that conduct permitted under the Moscone Act (Code Civ. Proc., § 527.3) does not constitute a criminal trespass under general trespass statutes. fn. 1 Schwartz-Torrence Investment Corp. v. Bakery [29 Cal.3d 19] & Confectionary Workers' Union (1964) 61 Cal.2d 766 [40 Cal.Rptr. 233, 394 P.2d 921] and In re Lane (1969) 71 Cal.2d 872 [79 Cal.Rptr. 729, 457 P.2d 561] are premised on the ground that the union activity in those cases was protected by the First Amendment. fn. 2
­FN 1. Penal Code section 602 provides that: "Every person who willfully commits any trespass by any of the following acts is guilty of a misdemeanor:
­FN 2. Although convicted in a joint trial in municipal court, defendants have filed separate petitions for habeas corpus. We have consolidated the cases for oral argument and opinion.
­FN 3. The parties recorded the municipal court trial and submitted that recording as a settled statement in the appellate department of the superior court. The settled statement is part of the record submitted by defendants in support of their petition for habeas corpus.
­FN 4. Section 552.1 states that "This article [the industrial trespass law] does not prohibit:
­FN 5. Section 554 describes the property subject to posting under the industrial trespass law. It reads as follows:
­FN 6. Defendants argued that the construction site falls within section 554 because it contains electrical wires, telephone wires, and gas pipelines. The section, however, refers to property which is "used" for the purpose of electrical transmission, telephone service, and gas distribution. We believe that language indicates that the section applies to property in which the enumerated use is a primary purpose of the property, as in the case of high voltage transmission wires, distribution stations, etc. It cannot reasonably be applied to property used primarily for other purposes merely because that property had electrical and telephone service, and perhaps gas and water service. Under defendants' interpretation, virtually all commercial and residential property in the state would fall within the scope of the industrial trespass law.
­FN 7. Defendants' failure to file a timely request for certification does not bar relief by petition for habeas corpus. See In re Wallace (1970) 3 Cal.3d 289, 292-293 [90 Cal.Rptr. 176, 475 P.2d 208], granting habeas corpus although defendants failed to request certification by the appellate department.
­FN 8. The district attorney at one point did suggest that defendants could have been charged with violating section 602, subdivision (l), which declares it a misdemeanor unlawfully to "enter and occupy real property." A violation of this subdivision, however, requires occupation of the property, a "nontransient, continuous type of possession." (People v. Wilkinson (1967) 248 Cal.App.2d Supp. 906, 910 [56 Cal.Rptr. 261].) Defendants' conduct does not fall within this definition. (Compare People v. Wilkinson, supra, which held overnight camping insufficient occupation to violate subdivision (l).)
­FN 9. The district attorney confined his argument to claiming that defendants exceeded the scope of proper union activity, an argument we reject in part 5 of this opinion.
­FN 10. Section 554, which lists the properties which may be posted under the industrial trespass law, is quoted in full in footnote 5, ante.
­FN 11. Section 552.1 is quoted in full in footnote 4, ante.
­FN 12. The trial court interpreted Zerbe to signify that section 552.1 grants union representatives immunity from prosecution under section 602 only when they entered industrial property subject to posting, an interpretation which would create the anomaly that union representatives would have greater freedom of action when they enter dangerous industrial property than when they enter other property. Attempting to divine why the Legislature would permit "lawful union activity" only on dangerous industrial property, he surmised that the Legislature thought access to such property was so limited that the union would have no reasonable alternative way to communicate with the employees.
This reasoning appears erroneous. The issue of reasonable alternative means of communication turns on questions such as union access to off-premise parking areas, the proximity of the worksite to employees' residences, the difficulty of contacting employees at home, and similar matters. (See Labor Board v. Babcock & Wilcox Co. (1956) 351 U.S. 105 [100 L.Ed. 975, 76 S.Ct. 679].) There is no reason to believe that employees working on posted industrial property are harder to reach than workers on a construction site or other property not subject to posting under the industrial labor act. Moreover, the exemption of section 552.1 is clearly not intended solely to facilitate union-employee communication. Section 552.1 authorizes safety inspections, and such inspections require access to the jobsite regardless of the ease of communicating with workers at their homes.
­FN 13. Section 602, subdivision (n), as amended in 1978 prohibits: "Refusing or failing to leave land, real property, or structures belonging to or lawfully occupied by another and not open to the general public, upon being requested to leave by (1) a peace officer and the owner, his agent, or the person in lawful possession thereof, or (2) the owner, his agent, or the person in lawful possession thereof; provided, however, that clause (2) of this subdivision shall not be applicable to persons engaged in lawful labor union activities which are permitted to be carried out on the property by the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, Part 3.5 (commencing with Section 1140) of Division 2 of the Labor Code, or by the National Labor Relations Act."
­FN 14. Defendants in the present case were convicted under subdivision (k)(1) which, like subdivision (n), makes refusal to leave property on the request of the owner unlawful, but unlike (n) was not amended to provide an express exemption for lawful union activity. The relationship between subdivisions (k) and (n) is not entirely clear. Subdivision (k) applies to "any lands under cultivation or enclosed by fence" or any "uncultivated or unenclosed lands where signs forbidding trespass are displayed. ..." Subdivision (n) applies to "land, real property, or structures." Thus both sections appear to apply to fenced real property such as the jobsite involved in the present case. A comparison of the language of subdivisions (k) and (n), however, suggests that the former was intended to apply to rangeland, farmland, and similar open property, and that subdivision (n) might be the more appropriate provision to apply to the construction jobsite at issue in the present case.
­FN 15. At trial, the judge suggested that union access was unnecessary because "if they thought there was something wrong there, why didn't they pull their people off the job and strike the place." While the union may or may not have been legally entitled to strike the subcontractors, it seems to us that this is the alternative that our labor laws are constructed to avoid. One of the principal reasons for fostering collective bargaining is to avoid the public disruption, inconvenience, and expense associated with labor disputes.
­FN 16. Section 552.1 implicitly recognizes that inspection of dangerous property by authorized union inspectors is lawful union activity.
­FN 17. The representative would also violate subdivision (n) since such conduct is not protected by national or state labor law. Moreover, by damaging the property or interfering with its use, the representative might violate other subdivisions of section 602 regardless of whether he left upon request.
­FN 1. While I dissented in Sears, my dissent was directed to the issue whether the conduct involved was protected by the Moscone Act, and I agreed with the majority that if the conduct was protected, it would not constitute a trespass. (25 Cal.3d at p. 335.)
­FN 2. The constitutional doctrine enunciated by those cases was repudiated in Hudgens v. NLRB (1976) 424 U.S. 507, 517, 521 [47 L.Ed.2d 196, 205, 207-208, 96 S.Ct. 1029].
Wed, 02/11/1981 29 Cal.3d 1 Review - Criminal Appeal Opinion issued
1 WAYNE E. CATALANO (Petitioner)
Feb 11 1981 Writ Issued
SCOCAL, In re Catalano , 29 Cal.3d 1 available at: (https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/re-catalano-23251) (last visited Wednesday August 5, 2020).