Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/368/502/case.html
Timestamp: 2018-05-26 17:45:16
Document Index: 798336544

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 301', '§ 301', '§ 301', '§ 301', '§ 10', '§ 301']

Charles Dowd Box Co., Inc. v. Courtney, (full text) :: 368 U.S. 502 (1962) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
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Charles Dowd Box Co., Inc. v. Courtney,
or without regard to the citizenship of the parties. [Footnote 1]"
"We do not accept the contention that State courts are without jurisdiction. The statute does not so declare. The conferring of jurisdiction in actions at law upon the appropriate District Courts of the United States is not, in and of itself, a deprivation of an existing jurisdiction both at law and in equity in State courts. The case principally relied upon by the defendant, Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U. S. 448, does not so state. In the absence of a clear holding by the Supreme Court of the United States that Federal jurisdiction has been made exclusive, we shall not make what would be tantamount to an abdication of the hitherto undoubted jurisdiction of our own courts. [Footnote 2]"
The petitioner points out, however, that this Court held in Textile Workers Union v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U. S. 448, that § 301(a) is more than jurisdictional -- that it authorizes federal courts to fashion, from the policy of our national labor laws, a body of federal law for the enforcement of agreements within its ambit. The Court recognized in that case that
emphasized that "[a]ny state law applied . . . will be absorbed as federal law. . . ." 353 U.S. at 353 U. S. 457.
It is argued that the rationale of Lincoln Mills would be frustrated if state courts were allowed to exercise concurrent jurisdiction over suits within the purview of § 301(a). The task of formulating federal common law in this area of labor management relations must be entrusted exclusively to the federal courts, it is said, because participation by the state courts would lead to a disharmony incompatible with the Lincoln Mills concept of an all-embracing body of federal law. Only the federal judiciary, the argument goes, possesses both the familiarity with federal labor legislation and the monolithic judicial system necessary for the proper achievement of the creative task envisioned by Lincoln Mills. An analogy is drawn to our decisions which have recognized the necessity of withdrawing from the state courts jurisdiction over controversies arguably subject to the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board. [Footnote 3]
rule. [Footnote 4] This Court's approach to the question of whether Congress has ousted state courts of jurisdiction was enunciated by Mr. Justice Bradley in Claflin v. Houseman, 93 U. S. 130, and has remained unmodified through the years.
93 U.S. at 93 U. S. 136. See Robb v. Connolly, 111 U. S. 624; Second Employers' Liability Cases, 223 U. S. 1, 223 U. S. 56-59; St. Louis, B. & M. R. Co. v. Taylor, 266 U. S. 200; Garrett v. Moore-McCormack Co., 317 U. S. 239, 317 U. S. 245; Brown v. Gerdes, 321 U. S. 178, 321 U. S. 188 (concurring opinion). [Footnote 5] To hold that § 301(a) operates to deprive the state courts of a substantial segment of their established jurisdiction over contract actions would thus be to disregard this consistent history of hospitable acceptance of concurrent jurisdiction.
The direct antecedent of § 301 was § 10 of the Case bill, H.R. 4908, 79th Cong., 2d Sess., which was passed by both Houses of the Congress, but vetoed by the President in 1946. In conferring upon the federal district courts jurisdiction over suits upon contracts made by labor organizations, that section of the Case bill contained provisions substantially the same for present purposes as the provisions of § 301 at issue in this case. [Footnote 6]
93 Cong.Rec. 5014. [Footnote 7]
Garner v. Teamsters Union, 346 U. S. 485, 346 U. S. 490.
It is implicit in the choice Congress made that "diversities and conflicts" may occur, no less among the courts of the eleven federal circuits, than among the courts of the several States, as there evolves in this field of labor management relations that body of federal common law of which Lincoln Mills spoke. But this not necessarily unhealthy prospect is no more than the usual consequence of the historic acceptance of concurrent state and federal jurisdiction over cases arising under federal law. To resolve and accommodate such diversities and conflicts is one of the traditional functions of this Court. [Footnote 8]
See, e.g., San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236.
See also Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 1, 18 U. S. 25-27, and see generally The Federalist No. 82 (Hamilton).