Thompson v. Moore Drydock Co.

[597]

GIBSON, C. J.

The plaintiffs in this action, as in the companion case of

Williams

v.

International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, ante,

page 586 [165 P.2d 903], seek to enjoin an international union and affiliated locals from discriminating against them on account of race and color and to restrain their employer from assisting the unions in carrying out the alleged discriminatory practices. The demurrer of the employer, Moore Drydock Company, was sustained without leave to amend. The demurrers of the other defendants were overruled but plaintiffs’ application for a preliminary injunction against them was denied. Plaintiffs appeal from the judgment of dismissal in favor of the employer and from the order denying a preliminary injunction.

The cause of action alleged in the complaint is almost identical with that pleaded in the Williams case, and under the rules announced in that decision the judgment in favor of the employer here must be reversed.

With regard to the union defendants, however, the present action differs from the Williams ease in that there the trial court dismissed all of the defendants and denied the application for a preliminary injunction without considering the matter on its merits, whereas here a preliminary injunction was refused although the demurrers of the union defendants were overruled. The union defendants contend that material allegations of the complaint were controverted and that, therefore, the trial court acted within its discretionary powers in denying the application for a preliminary injunction.

An appellate court will not interfere with an order denying a preliminary injunction unless there is an abuse of discretion (see

People

v.

Black’s Food Store,

16 Cal.2d 59, 61 [105 P.2d 361]; 14 Cal.Jur. 180-183), but such an order will be reversed if the evidence does not afford a sufficient basis to support it.