United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Tunstall v. Brother of Locomotive Firemen, 323 U.S. 210 (1944)

Tunstall v. Brother of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen

No. 37

Argued November 14, 1944

Decided December 18, 1944

323 U.S. 210

Syllabus

1. The Railway Labor Act imposes on a labor organization, acting as the exclusive bargaining representative of a craft or class of railway employees, the duty to represent all the employees in the craft without discrimination because of race. Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., ante, p. 323 U. S. 192. P. 323 U. S. 211.

2. The federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain a nondiversity suit in which petitioner, a railway employee subject to the Railway Labor Act, seeks remedies by injunction and award of damages for the failure of the union bargaining representative of his craft to perform the duty imposed on it by the Act, to represent petitioner and other members of his craft without discrimination because of race. P. 323 U. S. 212.

3. Petitioner's cause of action is not excluded by the Railway Labor Act from the consideration of the federal courts. P. 323 U. S. 213.

4. The right asserted by the petitioner is derived from the duty imposed by the Railway Labor Act on the bargaining representative, and is a federal right implied from the statute and the policy which it has adopted. P. 323 U. S. 213.

5. The case is therefore one arising under a law regulating commerce, of which the federal courts are given jurisdiction by 28 U.S.C. § 41(8). P. 323 U. S. 213.

6. The petitioner has no administrative remedy available, and the bill of complaint states a cause of action entitling him to relief. P. 323 U. S. 213.

140 F.2d 35 reversed.

Certiorari, 322 U.S. 721, to review the affirmance of a judgment dismissing a complaint for want of jurisdiction.

Page 323 U. S. 211