Court Opinion

ID: 9461673
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:22:27.583823+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:13.292555
License: Public Domain

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge
(specially concurring):
Although I am in full agreement with Judge Coleman’s discussion of Count II, I concur in affirming Quinn’s conviction on Count I only because I think that the prosecution introduced evidence from which the district judge could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that the $300 payment was a personal payoff and Quinn’s bail bond premium and attorney’s fee justification a sham. Personal payoffs are clearly not a legitimate labor objective; hence, use of fear of economic loss to extract them is “wrongful” under the Hobbs Act. United States v. Enmons, 1973, 410 U.S. 396. 400 *1269& n. 4, 406 n. 16, 93 S.Ct. 1007, 1010 & n. 4, 1013 n. 16; 35 L.Ed.2d 379, 383 & n. 4, 386 n. 16.
I express no view on whether reimbursement by the employer of an employee representative who voluntarily paid bail bond premiums and attorney’s fees incurred by employees during picketing would constitute a legitimate labor objective or whether such payments made under the implied threat of further picketing would violate 29 U.S.C. § 186(b) despite the language of § 186(c)(2). I must say that I do not understand how the possibility of lawful picketing for a legitimate labor goal could be “duress,” which implies wrongful or illegal pressure. Moreover, I have found no statute or decision that makes incidental costs of labor picketing an improper subject for bargaining and settlement between employer and employee representative.