Opinion ID: 312329
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Law of the Case Question

Text: 32 Of course, if the District Judge's comment in first Ramsey was as appellants now argue the law of the case, this would end the matter and we would not need to answer any other questions. Significantly, however, if it had been, the United States Supreme Court would not have needed to remand this case for the District Judge for reconsideration under the preponderance of evidence standard and in the light of the Supreme Court opinion. 33 In first Ramsey, in the Supreme Court the appellant companies sought reversal and remand with direction that UMW be adjudged in violation of the Sherman Act, and that a new trial be granted for the determination of damages . . . or in the alternative that appellants be granted a new trial. It is, however, clear to us that the Supreme Court granted neither of these forms of relief. As previously noted, the Supreme Court's majority opinion held that the clear proof standard had been erroneously applied below in first Ramsey and that the existence of an antitrust conspiracy must be redetermined by normal preponderance of proof standards. It remanded, noting at one point, To what extent the proof would fail under the standard we here hold applicable and what legal difference it might make are matters open to be dealt with on remand. Ramsey v. UMW, 401 U.S. 302, 308 n.5, 91 S.Ct. 658, 662, 28 L.Ed.2d 64 (1971). Thus we believe that the Supreme Court clearly did not view the first Ramsey preponderance of evidence comment by the District Judge as the law of the case as appellants now contend. 34 Additionally, and for the reasons which we have quoted from the District Judge in his opinion in second Ramsey, we hold that the comment was dictum and appropriately subject to the District Judge's reconsideration on the total record when the case had been remanded to him. 35 II. Are the District Judge's Findings Clearly Erroneous? 36 As to the principal issue in this case, on review of this total record, this court finds that it cannot hold that the District Judge's findings of fact on the antitrust conspiracy issue are clearly erroneous. Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides: 37 Findings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge of the credibility of the witnesses. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). 38 Thus, however we might individually view the evidence if we were the triers of fact, it is clear that we are required to give great weight to the findings of the trial court which had the opportunity to see the witnesses, to weigh their evidence as it was presented, to view the demeanor of the persons who testified in court, and to determine all issues of credibility. 39 The testimonial record which we now review is, of course, identical with that which this court reviewed prior to its decision of the first Ramsey case. In the opinion in this court which affirmed the District Judge by equally divided vote, we said: 40 The essence of appellants' evidence of conspiracy to drive BCOA's competitors out of business consisted of 1) evidence of UMW attempts to organize the Southeastern Tennessee coalfields, including the operations of appellants; 2) the claimed violent and disastrous economic impact of these activities, and 3) the purchase of substantial stock in the West Kentucky Coal Co. by the UMW and the subsequent 'price cutting' activities of West Kentucky Coal which appellants assert served to drive Southeastern Tennessee coal out of the TVA market. 41 The District Judge's analysis of the evidence he heard is masterly. His opinion covers 52 pages of volume 265 of Federal Supplement and while we affirm it for purposes of our decision on the facts, in view of its ready availability we shall quote from it selectively. 42 Briefly put, the District Judge found in essence that 1) the UMW in its organizing activities in the Southeastern Tennessee coalfields was pursuing its own and its own members' interests rather than those of the BCOA; 2) appellants' economic troubles stemmed as much (or more) from the geological structures of the Southeastern Tennessee coalfields which made mechanization of the mines to meet oil, gas and electrical competition difficult and from undercapitalization and bad management as they did from the activities of the UMW, and 3) that the total record did not support the charge that defendant conspired with West Kentucky Coal so as to engage in predatory price cutting in the TVA market. 3 43 The District Judge's findings on these issues included: 44 1) '[P]icketing and violence are not per se evidence of a Sherman Act conspiracy. Thus the strike, ratified by the U.M.W., and picketing, to the extent that it received U.M.W. approval, and not the violence unconnected upon the record with the U.M.W., may be looked to as they may or may not demonstrate the purpose of the U.M.W. to conspire with others to impose the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement upon the Southeastern Tennessee coal field. The record in this regard fails to show any direct evidence of a Sherman Act conspiracy. Whether such an inference can be drawn must depend upon a review of all of the evidence upon the present phase of the case, to be followed by a review of all of the evidence upon all phases of the case. 45 'Upon review of the evidence as it relates to the Southeastern Tennessee coal field and of the U.M.W.'s activities therein, the following conclusions appear to be clearly supported by the evidence: 46 '(1) To operate successfully the producers in the Southeastern Tennessee coal field must be able to compete and survive on the T.V.A. coal market. Since 1954 50% or more of all coal produced in the State of Tennessee has had to find its market with the T.V.A. That figure reached as high as 78% in 1956 and by 1962 was still at 64.3%. 47 '(2) Due to the geological conditions, the Southeastern Tennessee coal fields cannot achieve a level of productivity equivalent to that of its principal competitors on the T.V.A. coal market. This competitive disadvantage is offset in part by the transportation and quality advantages which the field has over its principal competitors in the T.V.A. market at the Widow's Creek steam plant. 48 '(3) In the period since 1960 the coal operators in the Southeastern Tennessee coal field have been unable to compete and survive in the T.V.A. coal market under the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement. While in many instances this appears to have been due to antiquated mining methods and equipment or other causes, the fact nevertheless remains that since 1960 there has not been a single instance of a successful coal mining operation in the Southeastern Tennessee coal field under the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement and this in spite of the fact that the only feasible alternative facing most coal operators in the area was to operate under the national contract or go out of business. 49 'Further than this the Court cannot go. Clear proof does not appear, either directly or by inference, that the U.M. W. acted other than unilaterally in furtherance of its own interests and purposes in its activities in the Southeastern Tennessee coal field in the period here under review. In this regard the plaintiffs rely upon the defendant's advocacy of mechanization as a solution to the operators' competitive difficulties as one element of proof demonstrating a conspiracy, in that the U.M.W. was in fact attempting to force mechanization upon a coal field which it knew to be unsuited by geology therefor and at a rate that the U.M.W. knew was impossible for all but the largest coal operators in the nation. This contention does not appear to accord with the evidence. In the first place, it does not appear that mechanization would be ineffective in rendering the Southeastern Tennessee coal field competitive. Both Allen & Garcia and Grundy Mining Company appear to have been well on the way toward raising productivity to competitive levels by mechanization when their efforts were thwarted or halted by seniority and strike difficulties. In the second place, it does not appear that mechanization is beyond the economic capacity of all but the larger producers on the national scene.' Ramsey v. United Mine Workers of America, 265 F.Supp. 388, 430 (E.D.Tenn.1967). 50