Crimmins v. Ralph L. Smith Lumber Co.

PEEK, Acting P. J. Plaintiff, as business agent of Local 13-433 CIO-IWA, brought this action for damages on behalf of all of the members of the union and on his own behalf, against defendant Ralph L. Smith Lumber Company and [407]certain of its agents for breach of a collective bargaining agreement. Defendants’ demurrer to the second amended complaint, as amended, was sustained without leave to amend upon counsel’s statement that no further amendment would be filed, and a judgment of dismissal was thereafter entered.

The allegations of the second amended complaint, as amended, pertinent to the issues on appeal were that the union and the lumber company were parties to a collective bargaining agreement which in part provided, in Article IIA thereof, that:

“The National Labor Relations Board having certified that a majority of the employees have voted to authorize the Union to seek a clause requiring membership in the Union as a condition of employment, the following clause shall become a part of this agreement:

“ ‘Within 30 days from the effective date of this clause or within 30 days after employment, every employee represented by the Union, as a condition of employment, shall become and remain a member of the Union. This clause is subject to the terms and provisions of section 8 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947.’ ”

The complaint further alleged that on October 18, 1954, Charles R. Hatfield was employed by defendant company as a choke setter, a position coming within the bargaining unit represented by the union; that on May 6, 1955, the union requested in writing that the company discharge Hatfield, but that it unlawfully refused said request; that on May 17, 1955, after a second request by the union, Hatfield was discharged; that defendants’ failure to discharge Hatfield from November 18, 1954, to May 17, 1955, was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s damages which were alleged to be (a) loss of dues and initiation fee from November 18, 1954, to May 17, 1955, in the amount of $36; (b) loss of services of Hatfield in the amount of $10,000; and (e) $10,000 damages caused by defendants’ breach, in that the union was weakened and made to seem without economic power and thus unable to deal effectively for the economic betterment of its members. Plaintiff further alleged that Hatfield refused to become a member of the union during the period he was employed by the defendant company.