Chathas v. Local 134 IBEW

The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

Posner, Circuit Judge. This appeal presents a tangle of jurisdictional, equitable, and labor- law issues. The plaintiffs are members of a local of the electricians union who are on the outs with the local’s current business manager (that is, president), Mike Fitzgerald. They brought this suit under section 302 of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C. sec. 186, which forbids union officers to solicit employer contributions, against the local, Fitzgerald, and the “Unified Social Club,” a social organization of members of the local. The suit charges that Fitzgerald solicited and received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to the Club from employers with which the local bargains, the purpose being to solidify Fitzgerald’s hold over the union by enabling the Club to provide attractive social outings for union members. Fitzgerald created the Unified Social Club, and it is closely identified with him and his faction of the local. The more lavish its outings, the more likely he is to be reelected business manager. The plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction forbidding the defendants to solicit or receive contributions to the Unified Social Club from employers doing business with the local. In September, the defendants submitted an offer of judgment under Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The essence of the offer was that the preliminary injunction would be made permanent, but that the offer was not to be construed as an admission of liability. Rule 68 offers are much more common in money cases than in equity cases, but nothing in the rule forbids its use in the latter type of case. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. EEOC, 691 F.2d 438, 439-40 (9th Cir. 1982) (a case much like this); People v. Operation Rescue National, 80 F.3d 64, 68 (2d Cir. 1996); Goodheart Clothing Co. v. Laura Goodman Enterprises, Inc., 962 F.2d 268, 270-71 (2d Cir. 1992); Spencer v. General Electric Co., 894 F.2d 651, 655 and n. 5 (4th Cir. 1990), overruled on other grounds, Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. 103 (1992); RCA/Ariola Int’l, Inc. v. Thomas & Grayston Co., 845 F.2d 773, 780- 81 (8th Cir. 1988).