Court Opinion

ID: 9450195
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:38:03.937684+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:11.413559
License: Public Domain

SWYGERT, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur reluctantly. For all practical purposes this case is moot; academically,, perhaps not. That part of the Board’s-order which we are affirming can have little, if any, effect on the relationship' between the union and the employers. My reluctance stems from the history of the administrative proceeding that preceded the Board’s request for enforcement of its order.
The complaint charged the union violated section 8(b) (3) of the act during April and May 1962, by refusing to sign', the agreement negotiated by representatives of the union and the employers. The charge was filed with the Board in May 1962. On October 19, 1962, the' complaint was issued. The hearing before the trial examiner occurred in December 1962. On February 7, 1963, he issued his intermediate report. The-Board rendered its decision July 18, 1963. The Board’s petition for enforcement of its order was not filed until January 1964. The last brief in this court was filed April 24, 1964.
In the meantime, on April 1, 1964, the term of the unexecuted contract ended. Its execution now would be meaningless. The dispute has been resolved not by administrative and judicial process but by lapse of time. We are asked to settle a controversy that has become moribund because-of delays in the administrative procedure.