United Transportation Union v. State Bar Of Michigan

401 U.S. 576 (1971)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The Michigan State Bar (P) brought this action in January 1959 to enjoin the members of D from engaging in activities undertaken for the stated purpose of assisting their fellow workers, their widows and families, to protect themselves from excessive fees at the hands of incompetent attorneys in suits for damages under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. D recommended selected attorneys to its members and their families. It secured a commitment from those attorneys that the maximum fee charged would not exceed 25% of the recovery, and that it recommended Chicago lawyers to represent Michigan claimants. D admitted that it had engaged in the practice of protecting members against large fees and incompetent counsel; that since 1930 it had recommended, with respect to FELA claims, that injured member employees, and their families, consult attorneys designated by the Union as 'Legal Counsel'; that prior to March 1959, it had informed the injured members and their families that the legal counsel would not charge in excess of 25% of any recovery; and that Union representatives were reimbursed for transporting injured employees, or their families, to the legal counsel offices. The evidence consists of the testimony of one employee of the Association of American Railroads in 1961 that from 1953 through 1960 a large number of Michigan FELA claimants were represented by the Union's designated Chicago legal counsel. The state trial court issued an order enjoining D's activities on the ground that they violated the state statute making it a misdemeanor to 'solicit' damage suits against railroads. D appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. This Court handed down its decision in Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Virginia State Bar, 377 U.S. 1 (1964), involving a similar injunction secured by the Virginia State Bar against the Union. That case held that the First Amendment guarantees of free speech, petition, and assembly gave railroad workers the right to cooperate in helping and advising one another in asserting their rights under the FELA. Workers were determined to have a right under the First Amendment to act collectively to secure good, honest lawyers to assert their claims against railroads. The Michigan Supreme Court remanded the instant case to the state trial court. The State Bar made a motion for further proceedings. That motion was heard, and the case lingered in the trial court. The trial court adopted verbatim the injunction entered in the Virginia state courts after the remand in Trainmen. The Michigan Supreme Court gave the holding in Trainmen the narrowest possible reading, focusing only on the specific literal language of the injunctive provisions challenged in that case rather than the broad range of union activities held to be protected by the First Amendment. The decree enjoins D from 'giving or furnishing legal advice to its members or their families.' disallowed giving the names of injured members to any attorney. It prohibited the Union from receiving monetary benefit from a legal referral. It also proscribed any limitations on the fees attorneys could charge. D appealed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.