United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Hutcheson, 312 U.S. 219 (1941)

United States v. Hutcheson

No. 43

Argued December 10, 1940

Decided February 3, 1941

312 U.S. 219

Syllabus

1. In determining whether trade union conduct violates the Sherman Act, that Act should be read with § 20 of the Clayton Act and with the Norris-LaGuardia Act. P. 312 U. S. 231.

2. Labor union activities enumerated in §20 of the Clayton Act, which that section declares shall not be "considered or held to be violations of any law of the United States," are not punishable as criminal under the Sherman Act. P. 312 U. S. 232.

3. Section 20 of the Clayton Act does not differentiate between trade union conduct directed against an employer because of a controversy arising in the relation between employer and employee, as such, and conduct similarly directed but arising from a struggle between two unions seeking the favor of the same employer. P. 312 U. S. 232.

4. In a case involving interstate commerce, union carpenters refused to work for a brewing company by which they were employed, or on construction work being done for it and for its adjoining tenant; they attempted to persuade members of other unions similarly to refuse to work; they picketed the brewer's premises, displaying signs "Unfair to Organized Labor"; and they recommended to the union members and their friends not to buy or use the brewer's product.

Held:

(1) That these actions were protected from prosecution under the Sherman Act by § 20 of the Clayton Act, construed in the light of Congress's definition of a "labor dispute" in the Norris-LaGuardia Act. P. 312 U. S. 233.

(2) In view of the broad definition of "labor dispute" in the Norris-LaGuardia Act, § 20 of the Clayton Act gives protection to the conduct it describes although directed in part against outsiders to the labor dispute. Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering, 254 U. S. 443, is inapplicable. P. 312 U. S. 234.

32 F. Supp. 600, affirmed.

APPEAL under the Criminal Appeals Act from a judgment quashing an indictment under the Sherman Act.

Page 312 U. S. 227