Opinion of the Court in GLACIER NORTHWEST, INC., DBA CALPORTLAND v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS LOCAL UNION NO. 174.
BARRETT, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and SOTOMAYOR, KAGAN, and KAVANAUGH, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which GORSUCH, J., joined. ALITO, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which THOMAS and GORSUCH, JJ., joined. JACKSON, J., filed a dissenting opinion.
8 to 1, with only Justice Jackson dissenting.
The union members, on the pretense of showing up to work (but with the real intention of striking), reported to Glacier’s site for concrete loading. The concrete was prepared and loaded on the trucks, at which time the union members took off on strike.
Fortunately, the company was able to save its trucks, but the concrete was all wasted.
The company sued the union but lower courts barred the suit as being preempted under the NLRB.
The Supreme Court today reversed that judgement and as a result, the company will be able to sue and recover its losses from a MALICIOUS and DELIBERATE tort by the union.
Regardless of how you may feel about unions in general, no union has the right to engage in such malicious and destructive behavior. The union should have informed the company they were going on strike in the early morning hours, thereby allowing the company NOT to prepare the concrete or load it in the trucks.
Instead, the union behaved in a way that could have resulted not only in the waste of the concrete, but the destruction of the concrete trucks, if the concrete had hardened inside of them. Thankfully, the company was able to empty the trucks without damage, but the concrete was still wasted.
A valid tort case by the company and I am glad they will now be able to force the union to compensate them for the wasted concrete.
And this will be an example for other unions that might have been contemplating such despicable conduct.
