Court Opinion

ID: 9461098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:05:43.462606+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:53.396133
License: Public Domain

BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judge
(concurring in result).
The complaint asserts violation of civil rights by reason of physical violence which occurred when union representatives sought to shut down a construction project because of a refusal to employ only union labor. The plaintiff union and one of its representatives claimed violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. Jurisdiction was asserted under 28 U.S. C. § 1343. Defendant employers asserted a counterclaim for expenses incurred as a result of plaintiffs’ actions. No objection was made to the assertion of the counterclaim and judgment was entered thereon in favor of the employers. If the counterclaim was compulsory, there is ancillary federal jurisdiction.
My trouble with the opinion is the possibility that it will be taken as a general approval of counterclaims in civil rights actions. I have been unable to find any authority on the point. On the record presented both the violence and the additional expenses arose out of the Union’s effort to close down the job. Satisfaction of the “transaction or occurrence” requirement of Rule 13(a), F.R.Civ.P., should be determined in the first instance by the trial court. Here, the problem was not presented to the trial court and we should not make a de novo determination. Implicit in the decision of the trial court is recognition that the counterclaim was compulsory and, hence, ancillary jurisdiction was present.
On the particular facts of this unique case, coupled with the failure of the plaintiffs to object in the trial court to the counterclaim, I would affirm but I would leave open the question of recognition generally of compulsory counterclaims in civil rights actions.