Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

01-2057 Mark Arnold, et al. v. UMW

By: dmc-admin//June 17, 2002//

01-2057 Mark Arnold, et al. v. UMW

By: dmc-admin//June 17, 2002//

Listen to this article

“Plaintiffs argue that it would have been futile to take their case to the union because: (1) the union’s general counsel, Deborah Stern, stated that the union would fight the plaintiffs ‘to the end,’ and (2) the union executives who made the decision to distribute the settlement more broadly were the same people who would hear the plaintiffs’ appeal. Plaintiffs conclude that these facts show that the union’s decision had become ‘fixed,’ rendering any appeal futile. We agree with the district court that the plaintiffs failed to show that union procedures were so infected with hostility as to warrant excusing the exhaustion requirement. Ms. Stern is not a member of any appellate review board within the union. Plaintiffs do not take issue with the district court’s observation that ‘Ms. Stern would not be involved in any decision rendered by the IEB or International Convention.’ Stern’s statement that the union would fight ‘to the end’ therefore tells us nothing about whether the plaintiffs would receive a fair hearing before the IEB or International Convention. Similarly, although one member of the IEB, Vice President Jerry Jones, was involved in the decision to increase the number of recipients of the settlement, there is no evidence that any other member of the eleven-member IEB was involved in that decision. Plaintiffs complain that the district court failed to take Vice President Jones’s participation into consideration, but even giving the plaintiffs the benefit of all reasonable inferences, the presence of one potentially hostile member on the IEB does not, without more, demonstrate hostility so pervasive that the plaintiffs could not hope to receive a fair hearing on their claim. The district court was within its discretion in refusing to excuse exhaustion on the basis of the union’s alleged hostility to the plaintiffs’ claims.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Young, J., Williams, J.

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests