Opinion ID: 2382248
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the applicability of the pennsylvania labor anti-injunction act

Text: We first address the unions' defense that the sole applicable standard of proof to be applied in determining a labor organization's liability for violence occurring during the course of a labor dispute is that which is set forth in § 8 of the Pennsylvania Labor Anti-Injunction Act. § 206h. Liability of officers and members of labor organizations No officer or member of any association or organization, and no association or organization participating or interested in a labor dispute as herein defined, shall be held responsible or liable in any civil action at law or suit in equity or in any criminal prosecution for the unlawful acts of individual officers, members or agents, except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases, and by the weight of evidence in other cases, and without the aid of any presumptions of law or fact, both of  (a) the doing of such acts by persons who are officers, members or agents of any such association or organization; and (b) actual participation in, or actual authorization of, such acts, or of ratification of such acts after actual knowledge thereof by such association or organization. 1937, June 2, P.L. 1198, § 8. Act of June 2, 1937, P.L. 1198 § 8, 43 P.S. § 206h. Thus, the argument is that the above Act shields the unions from the plaintiffs' claim unless it can be shown that the offending acts were done by officers, members or agents of the union and that there was actual participation in or actual authorization of or ratification of the acts by the union. Our Supreme Court has recognized that the Pennsylvania Labor Anti-Injunction Act was patterned after § 6 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 47 Stat. 71, 29 U.S.C. § 106, and adopted the language of the United States Supreme Court in describing the purposes of § 206h. . . . whether § 6 should be called a rule of evidence or one that changes the substantive law of agency . . . its purpose and effect was to relieve organizations . . . and members of those organizations from liability for damages or imputation of guilt for lawless acts done in labor disputes by some individual officers or members of the organization, without clear proof that the organization or member charged with responsibility for the offense actually participated, gave prior authorization, or ratified such acts after actual knowledge of their perpetration. Philadelphia M.T. Ass'n v. International Long. Ass'n., 453 Pa. 43, 52, 308 A.2d 98, 103 (1973), quoting from Brotherhood of Carpenters v. United States, 330 U.S. 395, 403, 67 S.Ct. 775, 780, 91 L.Ed. 973, 982-83 (1947). The United States Supreme Court later, in discussing § 6, stated: . . . the simple concern of Congress was that unions had been found liable for violence and other illegal acts occurring in labor disputes which they had never authorized or ratified and for which they should not be held responsible. Congress discerned a tendency in courts to blame unions for everything occurring during a strike. Ramsey v. United Mine Workers, 401 U.S. 302, 91 S.Ct. 658, 28 L.Ed.2d 64 (1971). The legislative history is in accord. S.Rep. No. 163, 72 No. Cong. 1st Sess. 19 (1932). To hold that an officer or member of a labor organization, or the organization itself, should be liable for damages for unlawful acts committed while a strike is on, without clear, actual proof of authorization, participation in, or ratification of such unlawful acts, would go far towards the destruction of organized labor. The § 6 standard has been held to reach or extend to an action in tort to recover damages. United Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966) and has been applied to tort action based on state law in C & K Coal Co. v. United Mine Workers, 704 F.2d 690 (3rd Cir. 1983). See also C & K Coal Co. v. United Mine Workers, 537 F.Supp. 480 (W.D.Pa. 1982) [same case]. Curreri v. Teamsters Local 251, 722 F.2d 6 (1st Cir. 1983); Kerry Coal Company v. United Mine Workers, 637 F.2d 957 (3rd Cir. 1981); Ritchie v. United Mine Workers, 410 F.2d 827 (6th Cir. 1969); Federal Prescription Service, Inc. v. Amalgamated Meatcutters and Butcher Workmen, 527 F.2d 269 (8th Cir. 1975); Kayser-Roth Corp. v. Textile Workers Union, 479 F.2d 524 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 976, 94 S.Ct. 292, 38 L.Ed.2d 219 (1973). See also Philadelphia Marine Trade Association v. International Longshoremen's Association, 453 Pa. 43, 308 A.2d 98 (1973); Wortex Mills v. Textile Workers Union of America, 380 Pa. 3, 109 A.2d 815 (1954); Fife v. Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, 356 Pa. 265, 52 A.2d 24 (1947). Compare Schnabel Associates v. Bldg. and Construction Trades, 338 Pa.Super. 376, 487 A.2d 1327 (1985) (Pennsylvania Labor Anti-Injunction Act does not apply to civil contempt sanctions by reason of violent exceptions. 43 Pa.C.S.A. § 206d(d)). Although the cases which apply the labor act's more stringent standards of proof are indeed claims for damages for economic harm while the present action is for personal injury, we see no reason for distinction between the two. Given the intent to shield a union and its members from liability for acts not participated in nor authorized or ratified by them, we see no valid reason for distinguishing between economic and personal loss by reason of individual acts of union members. For this reason we disagree with the holding of the Washington Supreme Court in Buchanan v. Int'l. Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, et al., 94 Wash.2d 508, 617 P.2d 1004. [2] Appellees next argue that if the § 206h standard applies generally to the present matter, it is in fact not applicable because of the provision of § 206d(d) which provides that the Act shall not apply in any case: (d) Where in the course of a labor dispute as herein defined, an employe, or employes acting in concert, or a labor organization, or the members, officers, agents, or representatives of a labor organization or anyone acting for such organization, seize, hold, damage, or destroy the plant, equipment, machinery, or other property of the employer with the intention of compelling the employer to accede to any demands, conditions, or terms of employment, or for collective bargaining. 1937, June 2, P.L. 1198, § 4; 1939, June 9, P.L. 302, § 1. Here, it is argued that since there was damage to property in the course of the labor dispute, the present matter is exempted from the Act's strictures. We note that the only ascertained property damage was a broken window. We do not believe that the above provision, which was a 1939 amendment to the Pennsylvania Anti-Injunction Act, should be so broadly read, particularly to render inapplicable the liability restrictions grounded on strong public policy, in a case involving only incidental and insubstantial damage to property. A reading of the original 1937 Act and its 1939 amendment demonstrates that the Act was amended to restore to the courts the power to grant injunctive relief in certain labor dispute situations where there is seizure, damage, or destruction of property of the employer. The amendment properly reaffirmed the court's power to protect property rights from otherwise unrestrained appropriation or destruction. Pennsylvania cases are consonant with respect to this interpretation of the 1939 amendment. Schnabel Associates v. Building and Construction Trades, supra, was a case in which the lower court, after the issuance of injunctive relief, found the union in contempt. On appeal, this court noted that the Anti-Injunction Act did not apply because of the extensive property damage and violent activity, and relief was granted pursuant to the court's power to restrain violence, mass picketing and overt threats of violence in order to protect public order and safety and prevent damage. See also Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp. v. United Steel Workers of America, 353 Pa. 420, 45 A.2d 857 (1946); Westinghouse Electric Corp. v. United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers of America, 353 Pa. 446, 46 A.2d 16 (1946); DeWilde v. Scranton Building Trades and Construction Council, 343 Pa. 224, 22 A.2d 897 (1941). We conclude that the purpose of the 1939 amendment was simply to restore equity jurisdiction to the courts to restrain unlawful conduct in a labor dispute and does not apply to the present personal injury tort action. Further support for the conclusion that the § 206d(d) damage provision does not extend to the inconsequential window damage in this case is found in a recent panel case of this court. In Frankel-Warwick, Ltd. v. Local 274, 334 Pa.Super. 47, 482 A.2d 1073 (1984), where the court found that where picketing activities made travel on sidewalks and egress to the petitioner's hotel difficult it was not sufficient to amount to a seizure. [3] Similarly, the trivial damage incurred herein is not sufficient to invoke the violence exception. More recently, in Solvent Machinery and Filters Systems, Inc. v. Teamsters Local Union 115, 343 Pa.Super. 505, 495 A.2d 579 (1985) a panel majority of this court reversed the issuance of an injunction, where there was some property damage and picketing which resulted, at the least, in interference with the conduct of business. Our court observed that there was no evidence which linked the property damage to an intention of compelling the employer to perform specific acts as required by § 206d(d). Finally, our court has recently spoken on the issue of the availability of a cause of action in negligence against labor unions in a matter arising out of a labor dispute. In LaZar v. RUR Industries, Inc. v. United Steel Workers of America, 337 Pa.Super. 445, 487 A.2d 29 (1985) (Spaeth, P.J., concurring in result) a picketing union member was injured in a melee while on picket duty. He sued the employer in tort for damages for negligence in failing to control off-duty employees. The employer sought to join the union as an additional defendant on the basis that its negligence caused the injury. Our court agreed with the trial court's dismissal of the complaint against the union. Citing provisions of the Labor Anti-Injunction Act, the court concluded that [b]efore a plaintiff may recover from a union in a strike-related complaint, he must be able to show, by the weight of the evidence, that the acts complained of were ordered, authorized or ratified by the union. 337 Pa.Superior Ct. 445 at 449-50, 487 A.2d 29 at 31. The trial court, in the present case, concluded that the restrictive standards of § 206h did not apply and permitted the jury to find the appellees liable on common law agency principles under the duty to control the picket line theory. Nevertheless, at trial the court undertook to charge the jury in accordance with the standards set forth in § 206h and in answer to special interrogatories the jury found against the union defendants since the union actually participated in, actually authorized or ratified after actual knowledge thereof, the unlawful acts which caused the injuries. [4] The trial court thus submitted the case to the jury on two theories: (1) § 206h; and, (2) common law agency principles as they relate to the duty to maintain a picket line. The theories were submitted in four separate interrogatories and the jury found against both unions on both theories. The second theory will be discussed infra. The charge of the court on the § 206h standard with the exception of the recitation of the jury interrogatories, was contained in a single paragraph and simply stated that there must be proof that the acts charged were actually authorized, actually participated in by, or ratified after actual knowledge thereof by [the unions]. There were no instructions as to the meaning of these concepts as they might apply to the facts of this case. Nevertheless, we conclude that there is not sufficient evidence in the record of actual participation, actual authorization, or ratification to warrant submission of this issue to the jury and conclude that the trial court erred in doing so. In Phila. M.T. Ass'n. v. ILA, supra, our supreme court rejected the argument that a union could be held responsible for the acts of its members despite the fact that the lower court found the efforts to prevent the violation by various officers was half hearted and not taken in good faith and inept and in violation of the order to take all reasonable steps which may be necessary [to carry out the order]. The supreme court concluded: However, we believe that much more is required to hold a union or its officers responsible under § 206h of the Pennsylvania Labor Anti-Injunction Act. 308 A.2d 98 at 103. The court proceeded to cite the following from the United States Supreme Court opinion in Brotherhood of Carpenters v. United States, 330 U.S. 395, 403, 67 S.Ct. 775, 780, 91 L.Ed. 973, 982-93 (1947): . . . whether § 6 should be called a rule of evidence or one that changes the substantive law of agency . . . its purpose and effect was to relieve organizations . . . and members of those organizations from liability for damages or imputation of guilt for lawless acts done in labor disputes by some individual officers or members of the organization, without clear proof that the organization or member charged with responsibility for the offense actually participated, gave prior authorization, or ratified such acts after actual knowledge of their perpetration. It must be remembered that the unions are unincorporated associations, with large numbers of trustees, officers, employees and members, and that the purpose of § 206h is to protect the union and its membership from liability for unlawful and unauthorized acts of persons associated with the union. The tortious shooting in this case was an act of irrational behavior by a lone intoxicated member of the union, perpetrated without reason on the person of two fellow union members and a fellow employee. There is not a suggestion in the record that the unions and their membership authorized, participated in or ratified this act of wanton misconduct. Imposing liability on the union for the unauthorized lawlessness of its more improvident members would penalize the union lawfully engaged in using legitimate economic means to resolve labor-management conflicts. Scott v. Moore, 640 F.2d 708 (5th Cir. 1981). The fact that the record may contain evidence of acts of violence and unlawful conduct by persons who were officers and members of the union is insufficient without more to fix responsibility on the union. Fife v. Great A & P Tea Co., 356 Pa. 265, 52 A.2d 24 (1947), cert. denied, 332 U.S. 778, 68 S.Ct. 42, 92 L.Ed.2d 362 (1947), reh'g. denied, 332 U.S. 821, 68 S.Ct. 143, 92 L.Ed. 397 (1947). [5] We conclude that the restrictive standards of 206h apply to this matter, and that there was insufficient evidence of the actual participation, actual authorization, or ratification of the acts upon which appellees' claim is based to support a finding of union liability.