Ruocchio v. Local 60Ruocchio v. Local 60
- Reporters:
- Before:
- Rendell, Stapleton, Aldisert
Before: STAPLETON, RENDELL, and ALDISERT, Circuit Judges
(Filed June 23, 1999)
Arthur L. Fox, II, Esq. (ARGUED)
Lobel, Novins & Lamont
1275 K Street, N.W., Suite 770
Washington, DC 20005
Attorney for Appellants
United Transportation Union
Assistant General Counsel
14600 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44107
Timothy R. Hott, Esq.
Hott & Margolis
591 Summit Avenue, Suite 300
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Attorneys for Appellees
OPINION OF THE COURT
RENDELL, Circuit Judge.
Appellants Eugene Ruocchio and Robert A. D‘Angiolillo, members of the United Transportation Union (“UTU“), appeal the District Court‘s dismissal of their action against appellee UTU and its local chapter and chairperson. Ruocchio was suspended from his position as treasurer of the local chapter, UTU Local 60, when he was charged with “willfully circularizing untrue statements” in violation of Article 78 of the UTU constitution. Ruocchio filed suit against the UTU, Local 60, and Donald Bogen, the General Chairperson of Local 60, alleging that the charges against him violated Title I of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (“LMRDA“), seeking reinstatement to his position, and requesting various forms of injunctive and declaratory relief, as well as money damages and attorney‘s fees. The District Court, while retaining jurisdiction, determined not to proceed to entertain the action until after the union‘s internal procedure was complete. Although the union Trial Board found that Ruocchio had violated Article 78 and removed him from office, its ruling was overturned by the UTU‘s International President during the internal union appeals process and Ruocchio was reinstated as treasurer. The District Court then dismissed Ruocchio‘s action as moot, finding that, in light of Ruocchio‘s reinstatement as treasurer, no case or controversy existed. Ruocchio filed the instant appeal. We find that Ruocchio‘s complaint is not moot, and remand to the District Court for further proceedings in light of this opinion.
Eugene Ruocchio and Robert A. D‘Angiolillo are members of the UTU and its local chapter, UTU Local 60. Ruocchio also served as treasurer of Local 60, having been elected with support from D‘Angiolillo. As treasurer, Ruocchio was responsible for depositing a refund check for overpayment Local 60 received from Vernay Moving, Inc., a moving company that had moved Local 60 into new offices. Ruocchio claims that he was unable to deposit Vernay‘s original refund check, dated May 28, 1997, because it was not made out to the union, but to Local 60‘s secretary, Susan Bogen, who also is the wife of Local 60‘s General Chairperson, Donald Bogen. To resolve this problem, Ruocchio requested Susan Bogen to ask Vernay to prepare another check, this time made out to Local 60. The record reflects that Susan Bogen did so, in a letter to Vernay dated July 28, 1997.
Vernay sent a new check to Susan Bogen, made out to the union, and it was forwarded to Ruocchio. On September 15, 1997, Ruocchio addressed a letter to Local 60‘s Vice Chairperson Ronald B. Hicks,1 addressing various union financial matters, including the check from Vernay. Ruocchio noted:
Finally, over a month ago I had received a refund check from the VERNAY Company for which I returned as a result of it being rejected from the bank as a third party check. I have since received another check from the same company, however the amount is drastically reduced with no explanation. Please advise why this has happened and when I am to expect the additional monies owed to our members.
Copies of the checks issued to Susan Bogen and the union show that the amount of both checks was the same--$125. Thus, Ruocchio‘s representation that the amount of the new check was “drastically reduced” from the prior one was inaccurate.
“This statement is a lie, both checks were exactly for the same amount. . . . As you know, Susan Bogen my wife, is our office secretary and this is a direct affront to her character as she is the person who the original check was addressed to.” At the next monthly union meeting, on October 26, 1997, Ruocchio was removed from office pending trial.2 The trial was originally set for November 21, 1997.
Prior to the original trial date, in addition to appealing unsuccessfully to the union‘s International President for relief,3 Ruocchio filed suit in the District Court against the UTU, Local 60, and Donald Bogen. Ruocchio alleged that Bogen had filed the charge against him in retaliation for his political opposition in the November 1996 union elections. Ruocchio averred in his complaint that:
Ruocchio is politically opposed to the Bogan [sic] administration. He campaigned against them in the last election and ran against thеir hand-picked
candidates in the previous elections; further, he has voiced his opposition to the policies of the Bogan administration.
****
Bogan and his political allies are using internal charges to punish their political opponents.
Complaint, PP 10, 13. Additionally, Ruocchio elaborated on his allegations in a second affidavit, filed about two months after the complaint was filed:
In the last officer elections conducted by UTU Local 60 in November of 1996, I ran on a slate running in opposition to the slate supported by the Local‘s principal officer, General Chairman Don Bogen, who considers me to be his arch political enemy -- the proverbial camel who got its nose under Bogen‘s tent.
****
For whatever reasons, Don Bogen reportedly took great umbrage, perhaps because my question concerning the Vernay reimbursement allegedly constituted “a direct affront to [his wife‘s] character,” . . . but more likely because he was hunting for some excuse to remove a “dissident” from his Executive Board otherwise comprised of loyalists or people he can control one way or another.
In any event, the very first notice I had that my simple, honestly intended question had caused a political aneurysm was when, at the next general membership meeting on October 26, 1997, I was brought up on internal union charges, effectively tried before those members who happened to be in attendance, and removed from the office to which I had been elected by the entire membership. In essence, I was caught totally off balance by Bogen and his lynch mob. I now understand that the event had been carefully scripted for the purpose of eliminating a political opponent.
Second Affidavit of Eugene Ruocchio, PP 2, 8-9 (alteration in original).
In addition to a request for money damages to compensate for loss due to Ruocchio‘s alleged improper removal, and for attorney‘s fees, plaintiffs also sought various forms of injunctive and declaratory relief. Ruocchio requested an injunction barring defendants from going forward with the trial against him, and reinstating him to his position as treasurer. The complaint also requested 1) declaratory relief that Article 78 is null and void; and 2) injunctive relief not only enjoining defendants from enforcing Article 78 and requiring they notify union members that Article 78 is no longer in force, but also enjoining defendants from retaliating against union members for exercising their rights under Title I of the LMRDA.
Prior to the union trial, which had been postponed from the originally scheduled November date, the District Court
The union trial was held on March 30, 1998, and, on April 10, 1998, the Trial Board ruled that Ruocchio had violated Artiсle 78. On May 30, 1998, Ruocchio appealed this decision to the International President, who overturned the Trial Board and reinstated Ruocchio to his position as treasurer, stating:
I have carefully reviewed the trial transcript, exhibits, and your appeal letter. After such review I have determined that the trial board failed to focus on charges brought and that the record as a whole does not present a violation of any willful circulization of untrue statements as contemplated by Article 78.
On July 13, 1998, in a letter addressed to Bogen (of which Ruocchio and other union officials received copies), the International President explained that, in overturning the Board‘s decision, he had not judged the propriety of Ruocchio‘s conduct, but had simply concluded that there was insufficient evidence of “willful” conduct on Ruocchio‘s part.7
We base our jurisdiction on
Although the precise issue before us relates to mootness of the instant dispute, and whether plaintiff is entitled to relief, the issue is best couched in the following terms for our purposes: whether the decision of the dispute continues to be justified by sufficient prospect that it will have impact on the parties. See 13A CHARLES A. WRIGHT ET AL., FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE S 3533, at 212 (1984). We conclude that, in light of the unique considerations involved in the union speech context, and the facts averred in this case, it is likely that a decision in the case will impact the parties notwithstanding Ruocchio‘s reinstatement. We will therefore remand to the District Court for a determination of the claims that should be decided, in light of this opinion.
As indicated above, plaintiff sought several types of relief: money damages; attorney‘s fees; a declaration that Article 78 is null and void; and injunctive relief, enjoining defendants from enforcing Article 78, requiring defendants to provide notice to union members that Article 78 is unenforceable, and prohibiting defendants from retaliating against union members in violation of their rights under Title I of the LMRDA.9 The District Court held that the reinstatement rendered the entire case moot. However, a case may be moot as to one remedy, but not as to others.
Here there can be no question that Ruocchio‘s claim for monetary damages survives and is not moot. See Sheet Metal Workers’ Int‘l Ass‘n v. Lynn, 488 U.S. 347, 354-55 (1989) (holding that an officer had stated a cause of action under
III.
This appeal presents a situation in which First Amendment principles intersect with concerns particular to union speech issues in a way that has, historically, caused Congress and the federal courts to proceed with special care. Congress‘s commitment to providing special protection for free speech rights in the union context is illustrated by Title I of the LMRDA, commonly referred to as the LMRDA‘s “Bill of Rights.” The courts have played a significant role in defining the contours of the LMRDA‘s speech provisions, and have “shaped the Bill of Rights into a guarantee of union democracy, with the right of freе speech enjoying a particularly favored position.” Fulton Lodge No. 2 of the Int‘l Ass‘n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers v. Nix, 415 F.2d 212, 217 (5th Cir. 1969). In construing its terms, the Supreme Court has considered that the predecessor to the LMRDA‘s current Bill of Rights was adopted as an amendment on the Senate floor by legislators who “feared that the bill did not go far enough
Violations of rights guaranteed by the LMRDA are of particular concern because discipline of one union member based on such a violation may deter other members from exercising their rights, thereby threatening the rights of all union members. See Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 8 (1973). In Hall, the Court determined that courts had authority to award attorney‘s fees to successful LMRDA plaintiffs, observing that, “by vindicating his own right, the successful litigant dispels the `chill’ cast upon the rights of others.” Id. at 8-9, 14. As the Second Circuit Court of Appeals noted in Salzhandler v. Caputo, 316 F.2d 445 (2d Cir. 1963):
The LMRDA of 1959 was designed to protect the rights of union members to discuss freely and criticize the management of their unions and the conduct of their officers. The legislative history and the extensive hearings which preceded the enactment of the statute abundantly evidence the intention of the Congress to prevent union officials from using their disciplinary powers to silence criticism and punish those who dare to question and complain.
Id. at 448-49. Salzhandler held that the protection afforded by the LMRDA was so broad that even libelous speech was protected. See id. at 450-51 (holding that libelous speech that may be the basis for a civil action may not be the basis for union discipline, because union “procedure is peculiarly unsuited for drawing the fine line between criticism and defamation“); see also Gertz v. Welch, 418 U.S. 323, 347 (1974) (finding, in the First Amendment context, that states may not impose liability for false and defamatory speech
Further, in light of the above concerns, courts have been expansive in their view of a litigant‘s standing to bring legal action in situations in which free speech rights are implicated. Cases addressing issues of standing in the free speech labor context -- which mirror the same concerns that exist regarding mootness -- have recognized that limitations on free speech rights can result in a“chilling effect” on others’ exercise of those rights, and have taken a broad view of standing based on this prospect.11 In Nelson v. International Association of Bridge, Structural & Ornamental Iron Workers, 680 F. Supp. 16 (D.D.C. 1988),
Litigants, therefore, are permitted to challenge a statute not because their own rights of free expression are violated, but because of a judicial prediction or assumption that the statute‘s very existence may cause others not before the Court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or expression.
Id. at 24 (quoting Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 612 (1973)). The court concluded that the plaintiffs had standing to challenge the section of the union constitution, because it was so “grossly overbroad,” and“so plainly” violated the LMRDA that ” `no judicial prediction or assumption’ is necessary to ascertain that free speech will be chilled,” and denying plaintiffs standing would perpetuate the chilling effect on the rights of all union members. Id. at 25; see also Virginia v. American Booksellers Ass‘n, 484 U.S. 383, 393 (1988) (plaintiffs had standing to raise a facial challenge to an allegedly speech-infringing statute before the statute had been enforced because they had alleged “an actual and well-founded fear” that the statute would be enforced against them, and“the alleged danger of this statute is, in large measure, one of self-censorship; a harm that can be realized even without an actual prosecution“).12
We have had occasion to endorse this expansive view of union speech rights, in Mallick v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 644 F.2d 228 (3d Cir. 1981) and
In holding that the district court erred in failing to consider plaintiffs’ equitable claims based on these charges, we noted the “expansive protection” given to union members’ speech rights. See id. at 235 (“The Bill of Rights section of the [LMRDA] is designed to foster democratic governance within labor unions, and to encourage members freely to dissent from the policies and administration of the leadership or to discuss openly those policies and practices.“). Had the district court properly considered the broad protections afforded to speech under the LMRDA, and the unique nature of speech infringements, it would not have concluded that, because the charges were overturned on appeal, plaintiffs necessarily did not suffer an actionable injury. See id.
Harm to free speech rights . . . is not measured solely in economic terms, nor must concrete punishment be
meted out to confer standing to sue. The right to speak one‘s views freely is so fundamental that the spectre of punishment, or the uncertainty created by a vaguely worded prohibition of speech, is injurious as well.
Id. We noted that the mere fact that the members were charged, as well as the possibility of future charges based on the challenged prohibitions, could have a substantial chilling effect on plaintiffs’ and other union members’ exercise of their free speech rights: “The goal of union democracy, achieved through the expression of opposing viewpoints, would be difficult to realize if members felt deterred from expressing their opinions by the prospect of disciplinary proceedings.” Id. at 236. Accordingly, we remanded for the district court to consider whether the provisions at issue violated S 411 of the LMRDA. See id.13
In Semancik, we recognized the district courts’ broad discretion to fashion remedies for speech violatiоns in the union context, and determined that the district court properly entered a permanent injunction prohibiting enforcement of a union provision that violated the LMRDA, because the union provision was broad and ill-defined, and had been repeatedly utilized to stifle protected speech. See Semancik, 466 F.2d at 152-53, 156. In so doing, we rejected the defendants’ argument that the district court was limited to granting individual injunctions on a case-by-case basis to union members who could show that their speech rights had been violated. We concluded that under
Both Mallick and Semancik illustrate the broad protection the LMRDA affords speech rights in the union context, and demonstrate that we may view the harm caused by regulation of such speech somewhat differently from the harm or injury occurring in other contexts. Both cases also reflect the wide discretion granted to district courts so that they may fashion remedies that satisfy these concerns. These factors are present in the instant case, and lead us to the same conclusion that we reached in Mallick -- that the District Court should have considered whether equitable and declaratory relief was appropriate. Ruocchio‘s reinstatement and the reversal of the charges against him no more automatically foreclose his rights to additional relief than the reversal of the charges did in Mallick; the remedies sought by Ruocchio of аn injunction against enforcement of the constitutional provision, and declaration of its invalidity, may indeed retain sufficient utility to justify their implementation. In both of these cases, we reiterated in broad and expansive terms the need for the courts to entertain, and enjoin, union exercise of power that chills speech protected by the LMRDA. To conclude, as the dissent does, that these important rulings do not support our conclusion is to turn our jurisprudence on its head.
Our dissenting colleague urges that our ruling opens the flood gates to union members’ protests against valid union regulation based upon the “sole” “bald” allegation that their speech has been “chilled.” Rather than take issue with this view, we embrace this characterization as a fair statement
We do not decide whether Ruocchio is entitled to declaratory and injunctive relief; we hold only that the claims do have vitality before the District Court. We note that by determining that these claims for relief are not moot, we have addressed the simplest part of the equation. Determining whether the conduct of the union actors, and/or the challenged constitutional provision itself, violate
We will also vacate the District Court‘s ruling denying plaintiffs’ request for attorney‘s fees. To recover attorney‘s fees under the LMRDA, a claimant must be a prevailing party and his lawsuit must provide a common benefit to all union members. See Pawlak v. Greenawalt, 713 F.2d 972, 980 (3d Cir. 1983). The District Court found that Ruocchio could not recover attorney‘s fees because he did not technically prevail in the case before it. We view this decision as reflecting an inadequate inquiry into the factors set forth in Pawlak. On remand, the District Court will necessarily revisit its ruling based on the outcome of the monetary, equitable, and declaratory claims for relief it will now hear as discussed above, and in doing so, should reconsider the Pawlak factors. We note that, for purposes of Pawlak‘s “prevailing party” requirement, Ruocchio need not obtain ultimate success in the form of a judgment in order to bе entitled to attorney‘s fees. See Baumgartner v. Harrisburg Housing Auth., 21 F.3d 541, 544 (3d Cir. 1994); Brennan v. United Steelworkers of Am., 554 F.2d 586, 591 n.5 (3d Cir. 1977). Rather, if plaintiffs have been a “catalyst,” so that defendants voluntarily ceased the
IV.
For all of the foregoing reasons, we will reverse the District Court‘s determination that plaintiffs’ lawsuit was moot, vacate the District Court‘s denial of attorney‘s fees, and remand to the District Court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The Supreme Court has consistently made clear that lies and willful defamation are not shielded by the expansive reach of the First Amendment. Yet, the majority suggests that a provision of a union constitution, which prohibits this same type of defamation, creаtes a chilling effect on speech sufficient to create a justiciable controversy in a case pursuant to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (“LMRDA“). This conclusion is unacceptable to me. I dissent.
This appeal requires us to decide whether the district court erred by dismissing Appellants’ claims as moot after Eugene Ruocchio was reinstated to the office of treasurer of United Transportation Local #60 on June 10, 1998. Ruocchio was first suspended from that office on October 27, 1997, pending a trial board hearing on a charge that he violated Article 78 of the Union Constitution, and was removed from office on April 10, 1998 after the board found him guilty. Article 78 provides:
A member who willfully circularizes untrue statements shall be expelled from membership in the United Transportation Union if, after being charged and tried under the trial provisions of this Constitution, his/her guilt has been established.
App. at 39. Notwithstanding the mootness issue, critical to our ultimate decision is whether the mere accusation that a union member has violated Article 78, without proof that the member has been damaged by the accusation, is such an injury as to make out a justiciable case or controversy as a violation of the LMRDA, specifically
As early as 1937, the Court made clear that a genuine case or controversy is necessary for the federal courts to grant relief to litigants. Aetna Life Ins. Co. of Hartford, Conn. v. Haworth, 300 U.S. 227, 239-240 (1937) (interpreting the
A “controversy” in this sense must be one that is appropriate for judicial determination. A justiciable controversy is thus distinguished from a difference or dispute of a hypothetical or abstract character; from one that is academic or moot. The controversy must be definite and concrete, touching the legal relations of parties having adverse legal interests. It must be a real and substantive controversy admitting of specific relief through a decree of conclusive character, as distinguished from an opinion advising what a law would be upon a hypothetical state of facts.
Id. at 240-241 (citations omitted).
Thus,
II.
As a threshold consideration, Appellants cannot breathe justiciability into their law suit by claiming economic injury from Ruocchio‘s suspension, removal and subsequent reinstatement as treasurer of the local union. The complaint‘s allegations relating to monetary damages are grounded on Ruocchio‘s suspension as an officer of the union, not as a member. We have held that “the LMRDA does not provide relief to a union оfficer for suspension as an officer, nor for loss of income resulting therefrom.” Harrison v. Local 54 of Amer. Fed‘n of State, County & Mun. Employees, AFL-CIO, 518 F.2d 1276, 1281 (3d Cir. 1975). See also Martire v. Laborers’ Local Union 1058, 410 F.2d 32, 35 (3d Cir. 1969) (“In Sheridan v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters, 306 F.2d 152 (3d Cir. 1962) we held that . . . Title I of the LMRDA . . . [does not] afford[ ] a remedy to a business agent of a union who has been removed from his elected office prior to the expiration of his term, for the reason that `[i]t is the union-member relationship, not the union-officer or union-employee relationship, that is protected.’ “).
III.
The majority believes that an amorphous “chilling effect” of Article 78 on Appellants’ speech is sufficient to confer standing such that a justiciable controversy exists and in so doing, makes an assumption that standing in a First Amendment case is co-extensive with standing in a
Notwithstanding the slightly broader concepts of standing in a First Amendment context, there are clear limits to what non-economic injury is sufficient to confer standing in a complaint brought under
Every member of any labor organization shall have the right to meet and assemble freely with other members; and to express any views, arguments, or opinions; and to express at meetings of the labor organization his views, upon candidates in an election of the labor organization or upon any business properly before the meeting, subject to the organization‘s established and reasonable rules pertaining to the conduct of meetings: Provided That nothing herein shall be construed to impair the right of a labor organization to adopt and enforce reasonable rules as to the responsibility of every member toward the organization as an institution and to his refraining from conduct that would interfere with its performance of its legal or contractual obligations.
preserves the union‘s right to adopt reasonable rules governing the responsibilities of its members . . . was designed to remove “the extremes raised by the [freedom of speech and assembly provisions]” . . . and to assure that the amendment would not “unduly harass and obstruct legitimate unionism.”
United Steelworkers of America, 457 U.S. at 110 (quoting 105 Cong. Rec. 6721, 6722 (1959) (statements of Sen. Cooper and Sen. Church)). Thus, we must determine whether Article 78 qualifies as one of the permitted
A.
“Congress adopted the freedom of speech and assembly provision [of the LMRDA] in order to promote union democracy.” Id. at 112. To understand the breadth of union democracy, we must ascertain the limitations to speech in the broader community in which we live, under a political democracy. Because the
Even under the broader limitations of the
Whatever have been the recent efforts in some quarters to denigrate the importance of telling the truth, society still places a premium on truth-telling and a penalty for violating the precepts prohibiting lying under oath. Even the President of the United States is not immune from such penalties. See Jones v. Clinton, 36 F. Supp. 2d 1118, 1130, 1131 (E.D. Ark. 1999) (adjudging the President to be in civil contempt because his “deposition testimony regarding whether he had ever been alone with Ms. Lewinsky was
Deliberately telling a lie or circularizing an untruth in the general community is neither protected nor acceptable in our society:
[T]he use of the known lie as a [political] tool is at once at odds with the premises of democratic government and with the orderly manner in which economic, social, or political change is to be effected. . . . [T]he knowingly false statement and the false statement made with reckless disregard of the truth, do not enjoy constitutional protection.
Garrison v. State of Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64, 75 (1964). Even in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964), and its progeny in actions against public officials, the
B.
In the context of Article 78, “willfully,” in the sense of intentionally or knowingly, is equivalent to the “actual malice” definition in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. Because the
The fundamental purpose of labor unions also supports the reasonableness of Article 78. Implicit in all phases of
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of commerce and to mitigate and eliminate these obstructions when they have occurred by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.14
The inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract, and employers who are organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership association substantially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate recurrent business depressions, by depressing wage rates and the purchasing power of wage earners in industry and by preventing the stabilization of competitive wages rates and working conditions within and between industries.
Ch. 372, § 1, 49 Stat. 449. Finally, the
Experience has proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively . . . restor[es] equality of bargaining power between emplоyers and employees.
In sensitive collective bargaining with employers and in processing grievances, the unified front of the union is of paramount importance. It is therefore a desirable objective to promote harmony and minimize acrimony within the ranks. A union is not an academic debating society; it is a formal democratic association of fellow workers founded to implement the “practice and procedure of collective bargaining.”
The prohibition of the commission of deliberate falsehoods by one union member against another helps to insure maximum harmony and thus to produce unity within the union. It serves the salutary purpose of minimizing dissension, disharmony and internal conflict within a labor organization whose effectiveness in bargaining collectively or processing grievances is calculated on unity of action. Article 78, exactly this type of prohibition, therefore implements the aims and objectives of
To suggest as do the Appellants that Article 78 is illegal on its face is a concept that flouts the basic precepts of organized labor and free speech rights. To encourage willful circulation of untrue statements within a union is to generate dissension and disharmony within the union‘s rank and file, weaken the union‘s effectiveness and play into the hands of those segments of society that have steadfastly opposed and battled the legitimacy of organized labor and collective bargaining, all of which have been hallmarks of our national labor policy at least since 1933 and 1935.
Accordingly, I would hold as a matter of law that Article 78 is one of the “reasonable rules” that a union may adopt in accordance with
IV.
The majority determines that certain precedents of this court dictate that Appellants’ case is still alive because Appellants asserted declaratory and equitable claims in addition to their claims for monetary relief. See Maj. Op. at 11 (“[W]e view our decisions in Mallick v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 644 F.2d 228 (3d Cir. 1981) and Semancik v. United Mine Workers of America District # 5, 466 F.2d 144 (3d Cir. 1972) as requiring that his claim for declaratory and injunctive relief be heard.“). An examination of these cases indicates that they constitute no meaningful authority for the majority‘s attempt to breathe life into this moribund case.
A.
In Mallick, we determined that “[h]arm to free speech rights . . . is not measured solely in economic terms, nor must concrete punishment be meted out to confer standing to sue.” 644 F.2d at 235. We then explained: “The right to speak one‘s views is so fundamental that the spectre of
In discussing Mallick, the majority states:
We noted that the mere fact that the members were charged, as well as the possibility of future charges based on the challenged prohibitions, could have a substantial chilling effect on plaintiffs’ and other union members’ exercise of their free speech rights: “The goal of union democracy, achieved through the expression of opposing viewpoints, would be difficult to realize if members felt deterred from expressing their opinions by the prospect of disciplinary proceedings.” [Mallick, 644 F.2d] at 236. Accordingly, we remanded for the district court to consider whether the provisions at issue violаted § 411 of the LMRDA. Id.
Maj. Op. at 16. This intimates that the only injury suffered by the Mallick plaintiff union members was the chilling of their free speech rights. In fact, in Mallick, there was substantial economic injury averred as well as “the spectre of punishment” for engaging in protected activity. For example, the Mallick plaintiffs alleged harassment for talking to newsmen and communicating with the National Labor Relations Board, Congressmen and Labor Department officials. They also claimed retaliation by the union in the form of less desirable job assignments. We stated that “[t]hese claims of emotional distress and economic injury were deemed sufficient to support damage awards by the jury, and they confer standing to challenge the validity of a union constitution which was invoked to punish them for protected conduct.” Mallick, 644 F.2d at 236.
Here, by contrast, there are no allegations of economic injury qua membership in the union. The allegations of injury are insufficient to satisfy even the lenient requirements of standing for a
The majority believes that the material facts of this case and those of Mallick are identical or substantially similar. This suggestion does not reflect the complete material or adjudicative facts in that case. As stated above, the Mallick plaintiffs were charged for clearly protected activity and received less desirable job assignments.
A judicial precedent attaches a specific legal consequence to a detailed set of facts in an adjudged case or judicial decision, which is then considered as furnishing the rule for the determination of a subsequent case invоlving identical or similar material facts and arising in the same court or a lower court in the judicial hierarchy.
Allegheny General Hospital v. Nat‘l Labor Relations Bd., 608 F.2d 965, 969-970 (3d Cir. 1979) (footnote omitted and emphasis added). Mallick does not qualify as a legal precedent for this case because the basic differences in material or adjudicative facts outweigh the resemblances to qualify it as a proper analogy.
B.
Nor may Appellants find support in the teachings of Semancik. At issue in Semancik was Article X, Section 10 of the United Mine Workers constitution, which provided in part:
[A]ny member or members resorting to dishonest or questionable practices to secure the election or defeat of any candidate for district office shall be tried by the district executive board and fined, suspended or expelled as the magnitude of the transgression may warrant.
See Semancik, 466 F.2d at 147 (emphasis added). We held that Section 10 “presents a threat and obstacle to free speech because it is so vague and ill-defined that whenever a union member might exercise the right guaranteed to him under the LMRDA, he is in peril of violating the provision. In response to such a union rule, a reasonable man might well refrain from taking full advantage of his rights.” Id. at 153-154.
I am unwilling to equate the “vague and ill-defined” Section 10 with the clear and unambiguous terms of Article 78, which prescribes penalties for any member who “willfully circularizes untrue statements.” The average union member would certainly understand what is meant by “untrue statements” or “circularizes.” This is a far cry from the obtuse expressions in Semancik: “dishonest or questionable practices.” Nor can we fault the use of the word “willfully,” in the sense that this means intentionally or knowingly as distinguished from accidentally or negligently. Were we to hold otherwise, hundreds of federal criminal statutes in
Nor does the following portion of the Semancik opinion, relied upon by the majority, give effective support to its theory:
[C]ourts have responded by making clear that labor organizations properly exercise their disciplinary powers only over a limited area of proscribed conduct inimical to the union as an entity and the collective bargaining mechanism. Unless statements fall into these categories, they are protected from union action even if libelous.
Moreover, notwithstanding the quoted language of Semancik, the reference that statements of union members are protected from union action “even if libelous” is simply not a correct statement of ruling Supreme Court case law. This proposition flies in the face of the unambiguous holding of the Court in Linn:
[T]he most repulsive speech enjoys immunity provided it falls short of a deliberate or reckless untruth. But it must be emphasized that malicious libel enjoys no constitutional protection in any context. After all, the labor movement has grown up and must assume ordinary responsibilities. The malicious utterance of defamatory statements in any form cannot be condoned, and unions should adopt procedures calculated to prevent such abuses.
383 U.S. at 63 (emphasis added). Accordingly, the teachings of Semancik do not support the existence of a justiciable controversy in this case.
C.
Therefore, the two major cases that form the linchpin of the majority‘s opinion do not support their conclusions. Moreover, acceptance of the notion that any union member who is charged with violating Article 78--without proof of actual financial injury or of the deprivation of the right to vote, to discuss union matters or to hold office--may bring an action in federal court to challenge the legality of the Article will generate a state of labor union disruрtion that will hail unions, their members and their officers into federal court every time any disciplinary rule of a union is invoked by a member, officer or committee against another, under the guise that merely initiating an internal union
V.
In sum, the abstract injury asserted by the Appellants--the right to be free from any application of Article 78 to them--does not meet the threshold requirement that “[a] plaintiff must always have suffered a distinct and palpable injury to himself that is likely to be redressed if the requested relief is granted.” Gladstone Realtors, 441 U.S. at 100 (internal citations and quotations omitted).
Because Article 78 is reasonable as a matter of law, it is impossible to discern how Appellants sustained the necessary injury entitling them to an injunction restraining the future operation of the article. Appellants were not prevented from criticizing union policies or from mounting effective challenges to union leadership. They were not denied an opportunity to work. They were not denied the opportunity to express any views, arguments or opinions or to express at all meetings of the labor organizations their views of candidates in an election of the labor organization or of any business properly before the meeting.
Rather, Ruocchio was precluded only from “willfully circularizing untrue statements.” As punishment for his alleged violation of Article 78, he was not expelled from membership; he was denied only the opportunity, for several months, to exercise his office as treasurer. On appeal after trial, he was restored to his office with all full privileges and rights. The only injury he sustained was his temporary removal from office. Because this was an injury as an officer and not as a member, the LMRDA does not afford relief.
Accordingly, I dissent and would affirm the judgment of the district court for the foregoing reasons.
Teste:
Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Notes
Every member of any labor organization shall have the right to meet and assemble freely with other members; and to express any views, arguments, or opinions; and to express at meetings of the labor organization his views, upon candidates in an election of the labor organization or upon any business properly before the meeting, subject to the organization‘s established and reasonable rules pertaining to the conduct of meetings: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to impair the right of a labor organization to adopt and enforce reasonable rules as to the responsibility of every member toward the organization as an institution and to his refraining from conduct that would interfere with its performance of its legal or contractual obligations.
6. Only two charges listed in the “Causes of Action” section of the complaint refer specifically to D‘Angiolillo: the S 411(a)(1) charge, and the S 411(a)(2) charge that Article 78 “infringes and chills the exercise of plaintiffs’ free speech rights.” The complaint‘s prayer for relief does not specify what, if any, relief D‘Angiolillo is seeking; in fact, in requesting relief, it refers to “plaintiff ” in the singular. We assume that D‘Angiolillo intended that his claims be remedied by Ruocchio‘s reinstatement, and the other equitable and declaratory relief sought by Ruocchio as “plaintiff.” We therefore discuss the relief that Ruocchio seeks, and do not address separately any relief sought by D‘Angiolillo. This does not mean that D‘Angiolillo could not seek to clarify his position in this regard on remand to the District Court.
been made “willfully” as the courts would apply that term. I have no criticism of the action of the Trial Board in hearing this matter and making the determination they did. It was just a question of my obligation to construe our Constitution to make sure that its text and application would remain within the difficult boundaries of federal law.In considering the appeal, I am duty bound to focus on the precise charge brought, and particularly upon the “willfully” standard stated in Article 78 of the Constitution, especially where, as here, the free speech rights contained in Title I of the LMRDA limit application of Article 78 to narrow circumstances similar to the limitations the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution plaсes on defamation actions in some circumstances. In short, there was insufficient evidence of record that the clearly erroneous statement in the letter that was the focus of the charge made against Mr. Ruocchio had
11. Cases addressing standing are relevant to our inquiry because the question of standing “bears close affinity” to the question of mootness. See Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499 n.10 (1975). Both standing and mootness involve the consideration of whether an Article III case or controversy exists. See id. at 498; Kelly, 815 F.2d at 914. In dismissing the instant case, the District Court equated mootness with the absence of a case or controversy. Mootness has been described as representing “a time dimension of standing, requiring that the interests originally sufficient to confer standing persist throughout the suit.” WRIGHT ET AL., supra, S 3533.1, at 220. We adopted a similar view in Artway v. Attorney General, 81 F.3d 1235 (3d Cir. 1996), in which we explained that mootness “asks whether a party who has established standing has now lost it because the facts of her case have changed over time.” Id. at 1246.
Sec.7. (a) Every code of fair competition, agreement, and license approved, prescribed, or issued under this title shall contain the following conditions: (1) That employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; (2) that no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing; and (3) that employers shall comply with the maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and other conditions of employment, approved or prescribed by the President.
National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, ch. 90, § 7(a), 48 Stat. 195, 198 (1933) (held invalid by A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935)).