From Kopmar v. Ass'n of Legal Aid Attorneys, decided yesterday by Judge Paul Oetken (S.D.N.Y.) (though see also another post this morning rejecting a different part of the claim):
Plaintiffs, who are public interest lawyers in the greater New York City area, … Plaintiffs allege that their local chapter of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys ("ALAA"), unlawfully retaliated against Plaintiffs for suing in New York state court to prevent the ALAA from promulgating a resolution that Plaintiffs viewed as antisemitic {and that] Plaintiffs characterize as "an 1,147-word diatribe against Israel"}…. Plaintiffs have stated claims under the LMRDA, at least as to the ALAA and members of its Amalgamated Council. The LMRDA protects Plaintiffs' right to freedom of expression, as well as their right to sue, largely irrespective of the content being expressed. Thus, … the ALAA and its officers were barred from disciplining Plaintiffs in retaliation for that lawsuit….
Section 101 of the LMRDA enumerates certain rights that all union members shall have, including the right to sue, and the right to freedom of expression. Section 609 makes it unlawful for a union to "fine, suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline" any member for exercising such rights ….
Here, whether viewed as "infringement" of Plaintiffs' Section 101 rights, or as "discipline" prohibited by Section 609, the ALAA may be liable if the charges against Plaintiffs were based on Plaintiffs' protected conduct. Members of the ALAA "filed charges and initiated expulsion proceedings against plaintiffs," and the ALAA defended the propriety of those charges against Plaintiffs' appeals until Plaintiffs finally prevailed before the PRB. That is sufficient to state at least an infringement claim, and likely a discipline claim as well, as to the union….
