Court Opinion

ID: 9659404
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:43:42.729854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:07.635963
License: Public Domain

DAVID B. GAULTNEY, Justice,
dissenting.
All three justices on this Court agree with the denial of appellants’ issue one. The trial court had jurisdiction to grant the temporary injunction. I disagree with the majority opinion on the third issue on both procedural and substantive grounds. I likewise disagree with the concurring opinion’s conclusion that there was ho violation of Tex. Lab.Code Ann. § 101.152 (Vernon 1996). I would affirm the injunction. But I limit this opinion to an analysis of the issues made the basis of the reversal by the majority.
A movant for a temporary injunction must show, among other elements, a probable right to the relief sought. Butnaru v. Ford Motor Co., 84 S.W.3d 198, 204 (Tex.2002). The trial court enjoined the picketers from blocking the entrance to the construction site. In slowly walking across the road entrance to the construction site, the picketers allowed only two or three vehicles to pass per minute. The construction workforce numbered 800 to 1000, so the obstruction of the entry delayed access to the site for hours. Traffic backed up on the county road in front of the construction site a mile and a half. Nails found in some entry locations were of the type designed to point upwards when thrown to the ground. The nails were coated with a *246material that prevented them from being pulled up by a magnet and that also made them hard to spot in the gravel. While crossing the road, picketers walked in front of vehicles and then, before a vehicle could pass by, turned and walked back on the same path to continue the obstruction. It is apparent the picketers’ purpose was to obstruct the entrance to the construction site, and they succeeded. As a result of their actions, delays occurred on the construction project. The record supports the trial court’s granting of the temporary injunction. Based on the evidence before him, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in finding a probable right to the relief sought and probable, imminent, and irreparable injury.
The majority holds that appellants were not required to present to the trial court their complaint about the specificity of the temporary injunction order; and the majority holds that the order does not comply with the specificity requirements of Tex.R. Civ. P. 683. I disagree on both counts. If appellants thought the order needed to be more specific, they should have raised that complaint with the trial court, and not for the first time on appeal. Appellants’ complaint that the language of the order is conclusory, and not particular enough, is a complaint about the form of the order. That type of form-over-substance objection should be made when it can be easily corrected at the trial court level. See Tex. R.App. P. 33.1(a). The complaint should be considered waived because it was not made to the trial court.
Even if not waived, the issue should be overruled. I recognize courts have held that the failure to comply with the mandatory requirements of the Rule renders a temporary injunction void. But here the order satisfies Rule 683’s requirements by setting forth “the reasons for its issuance.” Further, the irreparable harm caused by the unlawful picketing is implicit in the trial court’s order, which reads as follows:

TEMPORARY INJUNCTION ORDER

On the 30th day of April,- 2002, the Court granted the Plaintiffs request for a Temporary Restraining Order. The Court ordered a hearing on the temporary injunction on May 10, 2002, which is within 14 days of the signing of the temporary restraining order. After the hearing, and after reviewing Plaintiffs request for a temporary injunction, the accompany [sic] affidavits filed in this matter, the evidence on file, and counsels’ respective arguments, the Court finds that the Defendants have and continue to violate the provisions of Texas Labor Code § 101.152 causing irreparable harm to Becon Construction Company-
Therefore, IT IS ORDERED THAT:
1. The District Clerk shall issue a Writ of Injunction directing that the Defendants, and all others acting in concert or participating with the Defendants, individually or collectively, either directly or indirectly, jointly or severally, singularly or in concert, including any and all members of the Defendant organizations (i.e. the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Sabine Area Construction Trades Council), shall desist and refrain from committing or continuing to engage in any form of picketing activity in which a picket constitutes any character of obstacle to the free ingress to and egress from any entrance to the work site located on County Road 4213 in Newton County, Texas, where Becon Construction Company, Inc. is performing construction work, either by obstructing the free ingress and egress with a person’s body or by placing a vehicle or other physical obstruction.
*2472. For purposes of this Order, “picket” includes a person
(1) stationed by or acting for an organization to:
(A) induce anyone not to enter the premises being picketed; or
(B) observe the premises being picketed to ascertain who enters or patronizes the premises; or
(2) who follows employees or patrons of the premises being picketed to or from those premises to observe them or to attempt to dissuade them from entering or patronizing the premises.
The Court issued this writ of injunction, which is returnable at or before 10:00 a.m. of the Monday next after the expiration of 20 days from the date of service. The trial of this matter is set for October, 2002.
Obstructing construction workers trying to enter a construction site interferes with the construction. The irreparable harm is obvious, and is sufficiently described in the order.
I would affirm the trial court’s order. I therefore respectfully dissent.