Opinion ID: 494133
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Cover Driver Scheme

Text: 4 After some preliminary negotiations, Robert Brown, a production manager employed by Universal, came to the Albany, New York area in November 1980 to prepare for filming of the motion picture Ghost Story. Brown met with Civitello to negotiate an agreement with Local 294 to use local teamster drivers on the film. Brown and Civitello reached agreement as to wages and fringe benefits. Civitello then proposed that Universal hire local drivers as cover drivers for some of the jobs that were to be performed by the Los Angeles drivers accompanying the preproduction team from California. The term cover driver, as defined by appellants, refers to hiring a local union member to cover for a job that actually is performed by a union member from another jurisdiction. Thus, the employer must hire two workers for the same job, when the work is performed solely by the employee from a foreign jurisdiction. The cover driver thereby receives an unearned salary. Brown initially balked at the proposal. He told Civitello that he never had used cover drivers and that he had no jobs for them to do. Civitello responded that Universal was required to hire cover drivers if it expected to employ teamsters on the motion picture and if it expected to be able to film it in the Albany area. Civitello also suggested the possibility of a work stoppage if cover drivers were not hired. Brown agreed to hire four cover drivers. 5 Filming began in January 1981. In April 1981, Daniel Slusser, a vice president and general manager of Universal, became aware that cover drivers were being paid by Universal in connection with the filming of Ghost Story. Slusser also discovered that these cover drivers were doing no work and that several of the drivers, e.g., Irene Civitello, Frank Civitello and Donna Spagnola, apparently were related to some union officials. In fact, many of the cover drivers hired were not union members and were incapable of performing the jobs that they purportedly were covering. Slusser telephoned instructions to several Universal executives that payments to all cover drivers should cease. These instructions were conveyed to Civitello, who then spoke to Slusser. Slusser informed him that the cover drivers would be required to work and would not be paid unless they worked. Civitello responded that Slusser would have to speak to Robilotto. 6 Later that day, all three appellants met with William Gray, a production supervisor, who repeated that Universal would not pay for non-working cover drivers. Robilotto became angry and began swearing, threatening that they would either pay or he would shut them down. Gray then arranged for Robilotto to speak to Slusser. Robilotto repeated his threat to Slusser. Slusser agreed to meet with Robilotto in Arizona. The meeting took place in May 1981 and lasted for approximately 15 minutes. After the meeting, Slusser called a Universal executive and told him to continue paying the cover drivers for the remaining two weeks of filming. 7 At trial, both Brown and Gray testified that they felt threatened by Civitello and Robilotto respectively, and that they paid the cover drivers only in response to those threats. Four cover drivers also testified, including Irene Civitello, ex-wife of appellant Civitello, and several long-time friends of Spagnola. Each testified that they received little or no money from Universal, and several testified that Spagnola had gotten them jobs to facilitate their repayment to him of gambling debts. Universal paid a total of approximately $50,000.00 for the services of these four cover drivers.