Professional Documents
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Case: Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Helpers, Local No. 391 v. Terry (1990, US) [pp.
550-561]
Reasoning:
• Justice Marshall:
○ the right to a jury trial provided by the 7th Amendment encompasses more
than the common law forms of action recognized in 1791, but rather any lawsuit in
which parties’ legal rights were to be determined, as opposed to suits which only
involve equitable rights and remedies.
○ He proposed a two-part test:
§ Compare the statutory action created by Congress to the 18th century
actions brought in the courts of England prior to the merger of the courts of law
and equity (here it fails)
□ D's argues that since actions to enforce collective bargaining
agreements were unknown in England 18th century, P's action for a jury trial was
basically an attempt to vacate an arbitration award, which historically was
considered an action in equity.
® Marshall rejects this because there had been no
arbitration with regards to the union’s duty of fair representation.
□ D argues that the suit was comparable to an action for breach
of fiduciary duty, which was an equitable action, and P countered that is was more
similar to an action against an attorney for malpractice, which was an action at
law.
® Marshall concedes that the analogy to a trust action was
more convincing, but reasoned that the right to a jury trial depended more on the
nature of the issues to be tried. Although there was a fiduciary duty issue
between the plaintiffs and the union, there was also an underlying breach of
contract—that of the collective bargaining agreement between McLean and the
plaintiffs.
§ Examine the remedy sought by the plaintiff to determine whether it
was legal or equitable in nature.
□ The only remaining remedy the plaintiffs sought against the
union was compensatory damages, which are the traditional legal remedy. While
restitutionary remedies such as back pay and benefits may be characterized as
equitable when sought from an employer, the damages here were sought from the
Union. Thus, Marshall held that the plaintiffs were requesting a legal remedy, and
have a right to a jury.
• Justice Brennan concurred, but desired to simplify the test for determining a
plaintiff’s Seventh Amendment rights.
○ Specifically, he felt that it was unnecessary to examine the nature of the
action itself, but rather to simply examine the type of relief requested by the
plaintiff. If the plaintiff requested a legal remedy (such as monetary damages),
Brennan would simply assume that the right to a jury trial existed.
○ Brennan went on to criticize the Court’s historical analysis of
traditional equitable and legal causes of action. Many of the statutory rights
created by Congress are not analogous to anything which existed in the courts of
18th-century England, and judges lack the historical training to analyze such
matters consistently. Different justices and historians have come to different
conclusions as to what is analogous to a “legal” or “equitable” action. He
concluded that the right to a jury trial was too important for the Court to allow
for such an uncertainty.
Rule: An action for compensatory damages for an alleged breach of the duty of fair
representation is legal in nature, unless it seeks injunctive or restitutionary
relief.
Class Notes
• Terry says his transfer violated collective bargaining agreement, and sues union
for failing to pursue that grievance.
• Demands trial by jury for action against union.
• The statute that union breached does not require jury trial, so he only this
right according to 7th amendment.
○ 1st: look at the claim - is action more similar to attorney malpractice
(legal), or an action for breach of trust (equitable)?
§ This claim could not have been brought in 1791, b/c the claim would
have been illegal then
○ 2nd: look at remedy sought
§ The fact that it is money is not dispositive, rather, the money that
they are getting is the wages and benefits they would have rec'd from employer had
union properly represented them. This is like attorney malpractice - what you
would have gotten from D if attorney did work properly
§ Preference to jury trial