Hunt v. Crumboch
Hunt v. Crumboch
Opinion of the Court
This matter concerns itself with a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ bill of complaint on two grounds, (one) lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter and (two) failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The two reasons, being closely inter-related, will be treated together. The complaint avers that the jurisdiction of the court is under the Sherman Act of July 2, 1890, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1-7, 15 note, and the Clayton Act of October 15, 1914, 38 Stat. 730, which entitles any person, firm or corporation to have injunctive relief against threatened loss or damage by violation of the so-called “Anti-Trust” laws of the United States, prohibiting, among other things, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade and commerce among the several States or with foreign commerce; that it was engaged under the trade name of Hunt’s Motor Freight and Food Products Transport, with principal place of business in the City of Philadelphia; that it was engaged in the transportation of merchandise and foodstuffs for The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (hereinafter referred to as A. & P.) in solely interstate transportation, and had been so engaged by it for a period of fourteen years; that prior to February 4, 1939 the A. & P. entered into an agreement with the defendant Union whereby the A. & P. recognized the Union as the bargaining agent for its employees; that under instructions and by threats of the officers of the defendant Union, the said A. & P. notified the plaintiffs that it could no longer permit its merchandise to be loaded on the trucks of the plaintiffs for the purpose of carrying out the terms of the then existing contract which was to end on the 20th of March, 1939, unless they were members of the defendant Union; the employees of the plaintiff, composed of truck drivers and helpers, advised the plaintiffs that they were satisfied that the defendant Union act as their bargaining agent and the plaintiffs were at all times ready and willing to negotiate with the defendant Union as the representative and bargaining agent of its employees;
In consideration of the questions here raised by the defendants’ motion, we must first definitely limit the scope of our inquiry under the Sherman Act to the factual situation presented by the bill. To begin with, it has long been firmly established by many decisions of the Supreme Court that labor organizations are subject to the Act, when, pursuant to a conspiracy, they engage in unlawful activities which restrain or obstruct the free flow of interstate commerce. Loewe v. Lawlor, 208 U.S. 274, 28 S.Ct. 301, 52 L.Ed. 488, 13 Ann.Cas. 815; Gompers v. Buck’s Stove & Range Co., 221 U.S. 418, 31 S.Ct. 492, 55 L.Ed. 797, 34 L.R.A.,N.S., 874; Coronado Coal Co. v. United Mine Workers, 268 U.S. 295, 45 S.Ct. 551, 69 L.Ed. 963; United States v. Brims, 272 U.S. 549, 47 S.Ct. 169, 71 L.Ed. 403; Apex Hosiery Company v. Leader et al., 310 U.S. 469, 60 S.Ct. 982, 84 L.Ed. 1311, 128 A.L.R. 1044. However, no labor dispute is here involved as defined in the NorrisLaGuardia Act of March 23, 1932, Sec. 13(c), 29 U.S.C.A. § 113(c) : “The term ‘labor dispute’ includes any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee”. There is accordingly no purpose to be served in the consideration of those cases, which concern themselves with injunctive relief in labor disputes under the Clayton Act or the Norris-LaGuardia Act, the latest of which is United States v. Hutcheson et al., 312 U.S. 219, 61 S.Ct. 463, 85 L. Ed. 788, filed February 3, 1941. Here no term or condition of employment is in anywise concerned.
Therefore, since the Sherman Act brings within its scope labor organizations and since no labor dispute is here involved, there is presented the simple question of whether a substantial claim is presented, which would give the court jurisdiction. Levering & Garrigues Co. v. Morrin et al., 289 U.S. 103, 105, 53 S.Ct. 549, 77 L.Ed. 1062.
The averments of the plaintiffs’ bill as hereinabove set forth, and more particularly that in paragraph 18, “These unlawful acts of the defendants were part of an unlawful conspiracy between and among them to interfere with the normal conduct of the business of the plaintiffs in
On many occasions, the court has said that not every restraint of trade affecting interstate commerce is within the prohibition of the.Sherman Act, and this is so no matter how reprehensible the conduct of the defendants, nor how violent the methods used in affecting the restraint. United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal Co., 259 U.S. 344, 42 S.Ct. 570, 66 L.Ed. 975, 27 A.L.R. 762 (First Coronado case). The rule to be followed is that laid down in the Apex case, supra, which held that the restraints which come within the ambit of the Sherman Act, are those which the court relied upon to establish the violation in the Second Coronado case, Coronado Coal Co. v. United Mine Workers, 268 U.S. 295, 45 S.Ct. 551, 69 L.Ed. 963. In this case, the court at page 310 of 268 U.S., at page 556 of 45 S.Ct., held as follows: “The mere reduction in the supply of an article to be shipped in interstate commerce by the illegal or tortious prevention of its manufacture or production is ordinarily an indirect and remote obstruction to that commerce. But when the intent of those unlawfully preventing the manufacture or production is shown to be to restrain or control the supply entering and moving in interstate commerce, or the price of it in interstate markets, their action is a direct violation of the Anti-Trust Act [15 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.]”. United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal Co., 259 U.S. 344, 42 S.Ct. 570, 66 L.Ed. 975, 27 A.L.R. 762; United Leather Workers v. Herkert & Meisel Trunk Co., 265 U.S. 457, 44 S.Ct. 623, 68 L.Ed. 1104, 33 A.L.R. 566; Industrial Association v. United States, 268 U.S. 64, 45 S.Ct. 403, 69 L.Ed. 849. The averments of the bill show that the defendant Union here by its conduct with the A. & P. whereby it forced the A. & P. to refuse to permit the loading of its merchandise and foodstuffs by the complainant, coupled with its refusal to admit the plaintiffs’ employees into the Union, although the plaintiff was willing and anxious that its employees so join, shows a very definite intent to restrain interstate commerce since its intention is “to restrain or control the supply entering and moving in interstate commerce” as is laid down in the Second Coronado Coal case, supra.
The amount of the trade restraint is likewise immaterial, although all of the plaintiffs’ business was in interstate commerce. The restraint need not affect a reasonably great amount of trade, and it is therefore not the amount of merchandise or traffic affected, but rather the character and extent of the restriction itself. Steers et al. v. United States, 6 Cir., 192 F. 1; United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 224, 60 S.Ct. 811, 84 L.Ed. 1129; National Labor Relations Board v. Fainblatt et al., 306 U.S. 601, 307 U.S. 609, 59 S.Ct. 668, 83 L.Ed. 1014; Apex Hosiery Co. v. Leader et al., supra
Counsel in his brief and at oral argument earnestly contended that the defendants’ conduct did not constitute a restraint. The result of the defendants’ conduct was as is indicated, to eliminate his business with the A. & P. because his employees were not members of the Union, and then refuse to admit its employees into the Union when wishing to join, thereby destroying his business which was wholly interstate. The restraint here was in the destruction of the business as stated in Binderup v. Pathe Exchange, 263 U.S. 291, 312, 44 S.Ct. 96, 100, 68 L.Ed. 308: “It is difficult to imagine how interstate trade could be more effectively restrained than by suppressing it and that, in effect, so far as the exhibitor is concerned, is what the distributors in combination are charged with doing and intending to do”.
Accordingly, while as we have indicated, the two grounds for the motion to dismiss are inter-related, lest there be any confusion between the jurisdiction of the court with reference to the subject matter and the failure to state a cause of action upon which relief could
Motion to dismiss denied.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HUNT v. CRUMBOCH
- Status
- Published