Title: LOCAL 612, INT. BRO. OF TEAM. v. Bowman Transp., Inc.
Citation: 165 So. 2d 113
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: May 7, 1964

165 So. 2d 113 (1964)
LOCAL #612, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, etc., et al.
v.
BOWMAN TRANSPORTATION, INC.
6 Div. 864.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
May 7, 1964.
Rehearing Denied June 18, 1964.
*114 Corretti &amp; Newsom, Birmingham, and Hawkins &amp; Rhea, Gadsden, for appellants.
Maurice F. Bishop, Birmingham, for appellee.
MERRILL, Justice.
Appellants were adjudged to be in civil contempt on March 27, 1962, and from that decree they appealed; and they also sought review on a writ of certiorari, which writ was issued by this court on June 14, 1962.
Appellee had sought a temporary injunction in November, 1961, and on November 30, 1961, a "consent" decree was issued enjoining Local Unions Nos. 612 and 991, "their members, agents, servants, officers, employees and all persons acting in concert with them," from acts of violence toward appellee, and it was violations of this decree that prompted the contempt decree of March 27, 1962.
Appellee filed a motion to dismiss the appeal and the writ of certiorari on January 21, 1962, and its brief in support of the motion was not answered by appellants, either by supplemental brief or in oral argument. The grounds for the motion are that contempt proceedings are not reviewable by appeal, and at the time the petition for certiorari was filed and granted by this court, all the appellants were then in jail under the order citing them for contempt and, therefore, certiorari is not the proper remedy.
Appellants concede in brief: "It seems to be pretty well established in this state that the remedy for review of a contempt proceeding is by certiorari if the party is not in prison, or by habeas corpus if the party is in prison (Worley v. Worley, 100 So. 2d 18, 267 Ala. 71 and cases cited)." But they point out that the decree did more than adjudge them in contempt because the final decree enjoined all picketing by them. Their brief continues: "Thus, it can be readily seen that the decree of March 27, 1962, is not only a contempt decree but also is a decree of injunction which is appealable under the laws of this state."
Appellants' position is supported by the case of Preskitt v. Chandler, 214 Ala. 278, 107 So. 750. There, Preskitt was enjoined from cutting timber on certain lands. He was shown to have violated the decree and was cited for contempt and temporarily enjoined. He filed a motion to dissolve the temporary injunction. A decree was entered "overruling the motion to dissolve the temporary writ of injunction and adjudging D. O. Preskitt in contempt." On appeal, appellees sought to have the appeal dismissed because no appeal lies from a decree adjudging one in contempt of court. It was held that the appeal would not be dismissed because an appeal does lie from a decree overruling a motion to dissolve an injunction.
We agree with appellants that the part of the decree enjoining all picketing is reviewable on appeal and we are going to decide that aspect of the case. But we note that this court, in Preskitt v. Chandler, supra, did not review or decide the contempt aspect of the case and we also are constrained to exclude the contempt feature of the decree from our review for the following reasons: (1) Contempt proceedings are not reviewable by appeal, Jones v. Jones, 249 Ala. 374, 31 So. 2d 81; Wetzel v. Bessemer Bar Ass'n, 242 Ala. 164, 5 So. 2d 722; Ex parte Dickens, 162 Ala. 272, 50 So. 218; Easton v. State, 39 Ala. 551, 87 Am.Dec. 49; (2) The proper method of review is by certiorari if the party is not in prison, or by habeas corpus if the party is in prison, Ex parte Enzor, 270 Ala. 254, 117 So. 2d 361; Worley v. Worley, 267 *115 Ala. 71, 100 So. 2d 18; Wetzel v. Bessemer Bar Ass'n, 242 Ala. 164, 5 So. 2d 722.
These rules of review are well established and we think they ought to be followed, especially when appellants recognize and cite them. Here, appellants were in jail at the time the writ of certiorari was granted and an order or decree of contempt is not revisable or reviewable by this court either by appeal or certiorari when the party is in jail. Authorities supra.
It follows that the only matter left for our consideration is that feature of the decree listed in par. 8 of the decree:
Assignments of error 34 and 48 charge error in the enjoining of all picketing.
Peaceful picketing is not to be enjoined in Alabama unless it is done in an unlawful manner or for an unlawful purpose. Baggett Transportation Co. v. Local No. 261, etc., 259 Ala. 19, 65 So. 2d 506; Hotel &amp; Restaurant Employees, International Alliance v. Greenwood, 249 Ala. 265, 30 So. 2d 696; Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 60 S. Ct. 736, 84 L. Ed. 1093.
But all picketing may be enjoined where unlawful picketing has been continued, and where violence and intimidation have been used, especially where, as here, acts of violence have already been enjoined. We quote from a few authorities where all picketing was enjoined. In Milk Wagon Drivers Union, etc. v. Meadowmoor Dairies, Inc., 312 U.S. 287, 61 S. Ct. 552, 85 L. Ed. 836, 132 A.L.R. 1200, the court said:
In Hughes v. Superior Court of California, 339 U.S. 460, 70 S. Ct. 718, 94 L. Ed. 985, the court said:
*116 In International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local No. 695 v. Vogt, Inc., 354 U.S. 284, 77 S. Ct. 1166, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1347, the court reviewed earlier cases and stated:
In Nann v. Raimist, 255 N.Y. 307, 174 N.E. 690, 73 A.L.R. 669, Chief Justice Cardozo said:
This has been followed and cited in later state and federal cases.
The trial court in the instant case stated in part as follows:
These findings were amply supported by the evidence contained in a record of twelve volumes and forty-three hundred pages, in a hearing lasting over nine weeks, and we find no error in that part of the decree enjoining all picketing until further orders of the court.
Assignments of error 40, 43, 44, 45, 49, 51, 54 and 57 raise the question of preemption, that is, that a state court cannot enjoin picketing in a labor management controversy involving an employer engaged in interstate commerce as appellee unquestionably is.
The authorities cited under our discussion of assignments 34 and 48 hold adversely to appellants. We think it sufficient to cite only one other case, that of International Union, United Automobile, etc., Workers v. Russell, 356 U.S. 634, 78 S. Ct. 932, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1030, where the alleged and proven violence was not nearly so aggravated or severe as in the instant case, in which the court said:
There is no merit in the contention that the state court had no power to enter this controversy by reason of pre-emption. This position is greatly weakened by the fact that appellants agreed and consented to the original preliminary injunction of November 30, 1961, and the pre-emption theory was not raised until they were charged with violations of the consent decree.
Having treated all of the matters properly before us on appeal, and finding no reversible error, the decree of the lower court is affirmed as to those features of the decree which were appealable.
We call attention to the fact that the decree is not so final as to be permanently dispositive of the case.
*118 The ninth and final paragraph of the decree reads:
This reservation permits appellants to have modification or alteration of any parts or conditions of the decree when they are able to convince the trial court that they should be made.
That part of the decree which was appealable is affirmed and the review here sought by the writ of certiorari is dismissed.
Affirmed in part and certiorari dismissed.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and SIMPSON and HARWOOD, JJ., concur.