Opinion ID: 2380298
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: validity of injunction

Text: The defendants' first claim of error is that the contempt judgment is based on an invalid injunction, because the statute authorizing this injunction is (A) unconstitutional and (B) not applicable to the Federation. The issuance of a temporary injunction, of course, is not a final judgment and, thus, is not itself appealable. Board of Education v. Shelton Education Assn., supra, 87-88; cf. General Statutes § 31-118 (providing for appeals from temporary injunctions in certain labor disputes). As a consequence, only those claims of error which concern the court's authority to issue the injunction and thereby its authority to find contempt for violations thereof may be reviewed in the present proceeding. Thus, certain claims by the defendants concerning the injunction are not reviewable because they concern the court's discretion, not its authority. [7] A CONSTITUTIONALITY OF GENERAL STATUTES § 10-153e The defendants contend that the statute which authorized the injunction in this case, § 10-153e, [8] is unconstitutional because it violates the due process and equal protection guarantees. The defendants do not challenge the constitutionality of the statute's underlying prohibition of teachers' strikes, which has been upheld by this court. See McTigue v. New London Education Assn., supra, 359; Norwalk Teachers' Assn. v. Board of Education, 138 Conn. 269, 276, 83 A.2d 482 (1951). Rather, the defendants challenge the statute's authorization of an automatic ex parte injunction, without any showing of the need for an injunction, without notice. Cf. General Statutes § 52-473 (providing for an ex parte injunction only upon a showing that irreparable harm will result before the matter can be heard on notice). According to the defendants, the automatic ex parte injunction violates their due process notice rights and, because such an injunction is available against only teachers and not other government employees, violates their equal protection rights as well. It is important to note that § 10-153e was amended soon after the New Haven teachers' strike, and the provision authorizing an automatic ex parte injunction was deleted. Public Acts 1976, No. 76-403 § 5. In its place, the issuance of the authorized injunction was made subject to the procedure of §§ 52-471 through 52-479, which sections are the general provisions governing the issuance of injunctions. Thus, neither of the defendants' constitutional claims applies to the present version of § 10-153e. [9] As a consequence, it is necessary for us to consider only whether the rights of these specific defendants were violated by the actual procedure through which the temporary injunction was issued in this case. The defendants' due process rights were not violated in this case. The due process clause of the fourteenth amendment requires an opportunity for a hearing at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner appropriate to the nature of the case. Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 378, 91 S. Ct. 780, 28 L. Ed. 2d 113 [1971]. Schwartz v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission, 168 Conn. 20, 24, 357 A.2d 495 (1975); see Society for Savings v. Chestnut Estates, Inc., 176 Conn. 563, 572-73, 409 A.2d 1020 (1979); Roundhouse Construction Corporation v. Telesco Masons Supplies Co., 168 Conn. 371, 376-77, 362 A.2d 778 (1975). The defendants were aware on November 10 that an injunction was to be issued against them, as indicated by their attempt to obtain a hearing prior to the issuance of the injunction. Although the defendants were not allowed to be heard before the injunction was issued, they were provided with a meaningful hearing on their motion to dissolve within three days, as provided by § 10-153e, and before the order to show cause was heard or penalties were imposed. In view of these facts, it cannot be said that the defendants' due process rights to notice and to be heard were violated. Nor can it be said that the defendants' equal protection rights were violated in this case. The defendants' claim of an equal protection violation has been raised for the first time on appeal. Because the claim was not properly presented to the trial court, it is not properly preserved for review in this proceeding. [10] Practice Book § 3063. B APPLICABILITY OF GENERAL STATUTES § 10-153e TO THE FEDERATION The defendants claim that the injunction was invalid as to the Federation because § 10-153e authorizes an injunction only against individual teachers, and, therefore, the contempt judgment against the Federation was unauthorized. The defendants' claim, however, is based on a narrow and unrealistic reading of the statute. Section 10-153e does not limit the reach of the injunction only to individual teachers. As a practical matter, the teachers' association usually plays an integral role in a teachers' strike. If the actions of the association itself were insulated from the court's authority to enjoin a strike, the effectiveness of the court's enforcement of its orders could well be undermined. The legislature intended that the injunction provision apply to teachers' associations as well as to individual teachers. Related statutory provisions, enacted after the strike in this case, provide for service of process for actions under § 10-153e, with the exception of citations for contempt, on the statutory agent designated by the teachers' association. General Statutes §§10-153i, 10-153j. As an unincorporated association, a teachers' association may be sued directly. General Statutes § 52-76. We conclude that the injunction authorized by § 10-153e may be issued against the Federation.