Opinion ID: 463478
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Discovery Sanctions and 1977 Opinion by District Court

Text: 10 In 1976 the district court imposed discovery sanctions under Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2)(A). These sanctions resolved the following questions of fact against the defendants, who had refused to answer questions about these facts: 11 (I) That a majority of the financial contributors to the defendant Foundation are employers who (1) have contracts or other relationships with some of the plaintiff unions herein; (2) are in the same lines of business in which some of the plaintiff unions herein engage in organization; (3) have union security agreements of their own whose validity or operation may be affected by suits which the defendant Foundation is supporting; (4) have contributed to the anti-union activities of the defendant Committee; and (5) have in other ways manifested their opposition to organized labor. 12 (II) That such employers have a concrete interest in and would be affected by the lawsuits set forth by plaintiffs in their complaint. 13 (III) That a majority of the defendant Foundation's funds derive from the contributions of such employers. 14 (IV) That the financial contributions made by such employers to the Foundation have been given by the Foundation to the plaintiffs in the lawsuits set forth in the complaint for the purposes of financing and encouraging said litigation. 15 (V) The Foundation (aided by the Committee) has financed, encouraged, managed and participated (other than as a party) in suits instituted by employees and members of labor organizations, which challenge their financial obligations to the union which is their collective bargaining representative. In those activities, the Foundation has been acting as an agent and conduit for employers interested in promoting such suits in order to (1) promote their self-interest in restricting the permissible scope of legality of union security provisions to which they have agreed, been asked to agree, or expect to be required to agree; (2) weaken the dues resources of labor organizations with which they have or anticipate having collective bargaining or other relationships; and (3) generally establish legal limitations on union security and union political activities which enhance union strength vis-a-vis such employers. 16 590 F.2d 1139 at 1146-47. 17 Despite these factual conclusions, however, the district court dismissed the union's claims against the defendants in 1977. International Union, UAW v. National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, 433 F.Supp. 474 (D.D.C.1977), aff'd in part and vacated in part, 590 F.2d 1139, 1153-55 (D.C.Cir.1978). Based on the facts established by sanction, the court found that the Foundation had indeed violated the LMRDA's prohibition on interested employer involvement in union-member lawsuits. However, the court held that this prohibition, as applied to the Foundation, infringed defendants' first amendment right to expression in the form of legal assistance rendered by associations and their supporters. See NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 428-30, 83 S.Ct. 328, 335-36, 9 L.Ed.2d 405 (1963). The prohibition and any complaint based upon it therefore could not stand. The court also held that the plaintiffs could not enforce the reporting requirements of Section 433(b)(1) of the LMRDA through a private suit against the allegedly non-complying employers. 433 F.Supp. at 483-84.