Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-29-1992

Abstract

Defendant-appellant Local No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ("union") appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Mukasey, J.) awarding prejudgment interest on damages recovered by plaintiffs-appellees Wickham Contracting Co. and Ralph Perone (collectively, "Wickham"), as employers and former joint-venture partners. The damages were awarded under Section 303(b) of the Labor Management Relations Act ("LMRA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 141-197, which provides a civil remedy to employers sustaining damages from secondary strike activity by a labor organization. See 29 U.S.C. § 187.

The union contends that prejudgment interest is inappropriate in Section 303 cases because the LMRA, being silent on the subject of prejudgment interest, provides no "statutory authority" for such awards, and because the damages involved are unliquidated, or difficult to ascertain prior to judgment. The union further contends that, even if prejudgment interest may be awarded under Section 303, the district court erred in awarding interest in this particular case. We have not previously addressed the question of prejudgment interest under this provision of the LMRA. For the reasons that follow, we hold that an award of prejudgment interest under Section 303 is within the sound discretion of a district court, and that Judge Mukasey did not abuse his discretion in awarding interest in this case.

Comments

955 F.2d 831 (1992)

WICKHAM CONTRACTING CO., INC., Ralph Perone, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.

LOCAL UNION NO. 3, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL-CIO, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 482, Docket 91-7713. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued November 6, 1991.

Decided January 29, 1992.

New York Law School location: File #1353, Box #128

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