Source: http://www.ecases.us/case/c325568/great-coastal-express-inc-plaintiff-appellee-cross-v-international/
Timestamp: 2020-07-07 11:30:42
Document Index: 438422644

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 303', '§ 187', '§ 6', '§ 106', '§ 303', '§ 303', '§ 187']

great-coastal-express-inc-plaintiff-appellee-cross-v-international, Fourth Circuit, US Court of Appeals Cases, Federal Courts, COURT CASE
The employer, Great Coastal Express, Inc. (the company), contended throughout both trials that all of its damages, alleged to be $942,065, resulted from the illegal acts of IBT because the company had not suffered damage until IBT supplemented its legal tactics with illegal ones. The first jury returned a general verdict against IBT for $1,300,000, which the district court set aside on IVT's motion for judgment non obstante veredicto, or in the alternative for a new trial, as being excessive. See 350 F. Supp. 1377 (E.D.Va.1972). A new trial was ordered to reconsider the issue of damages, and the verdict reached at the second trial was for $806,093, upon which the district court entered judgment.
The company's attack in the first trial was two-pronged, in that it sought damages for alleged secondary boycott activities in violation of LMRA § 303, 29 U.S.C. § 187, and also damages for various alleged acts of violence and sabotage. At the close of the company's evidence, the court granted defendant's motion for a directed verdict as to the violence aspect of the case, holding that the burden of proof for finding IBT liable for acts of violence committed is the higher standard of proof of clear and convincing evidence, rather than a preponderance, and that the company had failed to meet this higher standard. See U.M.W. v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 735, 86 S. Ct. 1130, 16 L. Ed. 2d 218 (1966), construing Norris-LaGuardia Act, § 6, 29 U.S.C. § 106.
We should say here, and we emphasize, that the union does not contest the fact that there was evidence from which a jury could find an illegal secondary boycott. Indeed, the matter is admitted to be clearly a jury question. And the matter having been decided in favor of the plaintiff under proper instructions, it is, in all events, removed from our consideration. Lavender v. Kurn, 327 U.S. 645, 66 S. Ct. 740, 90 L. Ed. 916 (1946). The only question before us as to that finding is whether or not a partial new trial was proper.1
The district court's opinion on the motion for judgment non obstante veredicto following the first verdict of $1,300,000 is reported at 350 F. Supp. 1377. IBT raised the same issue in that motion as here with respect to whether the company had made the requisite showing of agency, and also argued that the jury charges were contradictory, and that the jury had awarded punitive damages in violation of the Labor Management Relations Act, § 303. The court relied on the case of International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 275 F.2d 610 (4th Cir. 1960), in concluding that there had been a sufficient showing of agency to let the jury consider it. The court also ruled against IBT on the jury charge issue, but did hold that the excessive verdict of damages was partially caused by the jury's consideration of the gross and vicious conduct attributed to the members of the local union and their sympathizers. The court stated the damage question was complicated and concluded a remittitur was improper. The motion for judgment N.O.V. was then denied, and a retrial ordered on the issue of damages.
IBT's first contention, that the court should have ruled as a matter of law that there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find an agency relationship between it and the striking local unions, is without merit. The Supreme Court has recognized, in suits brought under the LMRA § 303, that the responsibility of a union for the acts of its officers and members 'is to be measured by reference to ordinary doctrines of agency.' United Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 736, 86 S. Ct. 1130, 1144, 16 L. Ed. 2d 218 (1966). This court has previously held, in another context (a criminal case with its more stringent burden of proof), that the IBT constitution provides for such far-reaching control of local unions that the locals, in essence, are not autonomous but are subdivisions of IBT. International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, supra, 275 F.2d at 614. The district court here compared the constitution in effect when the Teamsters case was decided, found no significant differences, and concluded, quite correctly, that under the evidence in this case the jury was entitled to decide the issue. 350 F.Supp. at 1379. That being so, the issue is closed, for the weight of the evidence and the credibility of witnesses is solely within the province of the jury. A. & G. Stevedores v. Ellerman Lines, 369 U.S. 355, 358--359, 82 S. Ct. 780, 7 L. Ed. 2d 798 (1962); Lavender v. Kurn, 327 U.S. 645, 652--653, 66 S. Ct. 740, 90 L. Ed. 916 (1946). IBT claims no error as to the evidence admitted, which was ample to show participation by IBT, or in the jury charge, so the jury's finding of an agency relationship must stand.
We think this case is not one where the plaintiff should be faulted out of its judgment for not proving its damages with more exactness and precision. The Supreme Court has held, in an anti-trust case, that where the amount of damages cannot be ascertained with certainty, 'it would be a perversion of fundamental principles of justice to deny all relief to the injured person, and thereby relieve the wrongdoer from making any amend for his acts.' Story Parchment Co. v. Paterson Parchment Co., 282 U.S. 555, 563, 51 S. Ct. 248, 250, 75 L. Ed. 544 (1931). This circuit has previously adopted the Story Parchment reasoning in an action under 29 U.S.C. § 187 very similar to the one at hand. United Mine Workers v. Patton, 211 F.2d 742 (4th Cir. 1954). IBT's contention that Local 20, Teamsters Union v. Morton, 377 U.S. 252, 84 S. Ct. 1253, 12 L. Ed. 2d 280 (1964), would mandate a contrary result is not well founded, for Morton was a completely different case. In Morton, the district court, sitting without a jury, awarded the plaintiff $9,000 damages, under state law as a pendent claim, for loss of one of its customers, as a part of plaintiff's total damages. The customer had been persuaded by the union to cease doing business with the plaintiff, but its employees had not been approached. The Supreme Court held that the district court had no power to award damages proximately caused by such lawful, primary activities, since permitted by federal law, even though state law would have allowed a recovery in such a case. 377 U.S. at 259--260, 84 S. Ct. 1253. Along the same line, the court set aside the judgment for loss of certain customers whose business had been discouraged because of the strike, but who were not affected by any unlawful activity, because the union should not be responsible for damage by lawful activity even though it may have been engaged in unlawful activity elsewhere. 377 U.S. at 261--262, 84 S. Ct. 1253. But the court sustained the judgment of the trial court for damages for unlawful secondary boycott activities, the district court having in its opinion separated the items of damage.
Turning now to the issue of whether a partial new trial was appropriate, we note that such is expressly permitted by F.R.Civ.P. 59(a). The principal case with respect to ordering a new trial as to damages only is Gasoline Products Co. v. Champlin Co., 283 U.S. 494, 51 S. Ct. 513, 75 L. Ed. 1188 (1931). The court, in Gasoline Products, held 'that, where the requirement of a jury trial has been satisfied by a verdict according to law upon one issue of fact, that requirement does not compel a new trial of that issue even though another and separable issue must be tried again.' 283 U.S. at 499, 51 S.Ct. at 515. The court then proceeded to analyze the contracts in dispute to determine whether the damages and liability issues were separable, and concluded that, although the verdict on the contract sued upon by the plaintiff was affirmed, since the first verdict on the counterclaim was for less than the total damages claimed on various contracts, the extent of the damages depended on the extent of the undertakings which were in dispute, and the issues were so interwoven that a second jury could not fairly consider damages alone in a new trial on the counterclaim. And, it is noteworthy that the court did separate and let stand the verdict for the plaintiff on the contract sued upon without a new trial.
This court has considered new trials limited to damages on several occasions since the Gasoline Products case. It is well settled that granting or denying a new trial, either for excessiveness or inadequateness of the verdict, is discretionary with the trial court, and not reviewable absent a showing of abuse of discretion. Young v. International Paper Co., 322 F.2d 820, 822 (4th Cir. 1963). Most of the cases considered by this court have concerned the district court's discretion in ordering a partial new trial for inadequate damages, but the same general principles apply whether the verdict is attacked either for inadequacy or excessiveness. DeFoe v. Duhl, 286 F.2d 205 (4th Cir. 1961) (citing Virginia law); see Note, 29 A.L.R. 2d 1202 (on inadequacy). The only case where a new trial on all issues was suggested because of excessive damages was United Construction Workers v. Haislip Baking Co., 223 F.2d 872 (4th Cir. 1955), cert. den., 350 U.S. 847, 76 S. Ct. 87, 100 L. Ed. 754 (1955).
This court has noted that there is 'always a presumption in favor of the validity of a verdict if it is the result of honest judgment,' City of Richmond v. Atlantic Co., 273 F.2d 902, 916 (4th Cir. 1960), but has found a new trial on all issues to be required where a totally inadequate verdict was rendered which could only have been a sympathy or compromise verdict. Southern Railway v. Madden, 235 F.2d 198 (4th Cir. 1956), cert. den., 352 U.S. 953, 77 S. Ct. 328, 1 L. Ed. 2d 244 (1956). But where there is no substantial indication that the liability and damage issues are inextricably interwoven, or that the first jury verdict was the result of a compromise of the liability and damage questions, a second trial limited to damages is entirely proper. Young v. International Paper Co., supra; Mason v. Mathiasen Tanker Industries, Inc., 298 F.2d 28 (4th Cir. 1962), cert. den., 371 U.S. 828, 83 S. Ct. 23, 9 L. Ed. 2d 66 (1962).
In short, our task here is to determine whether the district court's conclusion that the first verdict was based on honest judgment by a well-intentioned jury, and that the liability and damage issues were not inextricably intertwined, so that a partial new trial was fair to both parties, was an abuse of discretion, and whether the presumption of the validity of the verdict has been overcome. IBT argues that the evidence of violence heard by the jury, before the court directed a verdict against the company as to that issue, so inflamed the jury, and caused them to render a verdict in excess of damages proven, that the entire verdict was tainted. We cannot agree. The court charged the jury that no acts of violence testified to could be considered in assessing any damages, and that damages were limited to losses which flow proximately from any illegal activity the jury might find. During deliberations, the jury inquired of the court, 'What amount of damages lost in dollars is the plaintiff asking? Is it the $942,065 figure?,' to which the court responded '. . . yes . . . I must tell you that you are not to concern yourselves with what the plaintiff asks for unless it coincides with the evidence as you find it.' 350 F.Supp. at 1378. It is obvious from the foregoing that the jury did not consider the $942,065 as a limiting figure, but we are unable to say from the record that the excessive verdict was caused from anything more than a misunderstanding of the jury charge as not limiting the recovery to pecuniary loss as mentioned in the question asked the court. There is no basis to support the defendant's contention that the first verdict was fatally infected by prejudice. To hold otherwise would be speculation on our part as to what the jury considered in its deliberations, and this we should not do, for, in the words of Mr. Justice Brandeis, '(a)ppellate courts should be slow to impute to juries a disregard of their duties, and to trial courts a want of diligence or perspicacity in appraising the jury's conduct.' Fairmount Glass Works v. Cub Fork Coal Co., 287 U.S. 474, 485, 53 S. Ct. 252, 255, 77 L. Ed. 439 (1933). Since no error is alleged as to any of the evidence, jury charges, or other relevant proceedings during the first trial, and especially considering the admitted and abundant evidence as to illegal secondary boycott activities, we are of opinion that the presumption in favor of the validity of the first verdict, insofar as it applies to the finding of IBT's liability, has not been overcome. City of Richmond v. Atlantic Co., supra.
See Skidmore v. Baltimore & Ohio RR., 167 F.2d 54, 66--67 (2nd Cir. 1948), cert. den., 335 U.S. 816, 69 S. Ct. 34, 93 L. Ed. 371 (1948)
DocketNumber： 73--2393
Citation Numbers： 511 F.2d 839
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, ... , 275 F.2d 610 ( 1960 )
Eva P. De Foe v. Benjamin Duhl, Isidore Suchman, Paul Gaier,... , 286 F.2d 205 ( 1961 )
Charles S. McGowan as Administrator of the Estate of Mary ... , 429 F.2d 586 ( 1970 )
Great C. Ex., Inc. v. International Broth. of Team. , 350 F. Supp. 1377 ( 1972 )
great-coastal-express-inc-plaintiff-appellee-cross-v-international , 532 F.2d 956 ( 1975 )
Johannes Tenbraak v. Waffle Shops, Inc. , 542 F.2d 919 ( 1976 )
blue-sky-l-rep-p-71655-fed-sec-l-rep-p-98276-robert-p-jones-v-j , 656 F.2d 103 ( 1981 )
landgrebe-motor-transport-inc-and-earl-f-landgrebe-v-district-72 , 763 F.2d 241 ( 1985 )
Joseph Emmett Wadsworth v. Eugene Clindon, Joseph Emmett ... , 846 F.2d 265 ( 1988 )
Patricia Bryant v. Muskin Company Roses Department Stores, ... , 873 F.2d 714 ( 1989 )
Wayne R. Gries, Michael J. Moran v. Zimmer, Incorporated , 940 F.2d 652 ( 1991 )
national-union-fire-insurance-company-of-pittsburgh-pa-as-assignee-and , 7 F.3d 225 ( 1993 )
State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources Potomac ... , 51 F.3d 1220 ( 1995 )
mee-sook-sasaki-v-robert-class-jlw-produce-incorporated-nationsbank , 92 F.3d 232 ( 1996 )
atlas-food-systems-and-services-incorporated-v-crane-national-vendors , 99 F.3d 587 ( 1996 )
David J. Rice v. Community Health Association, D/b/a/ ... , 203 F.3d 283 ( 2000 )