Johnson v. Nelson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

70 federal appellate · 8 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 102 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Union officials occupy positions of trust. They hold property of the union and manage its affairs on behalf of the members. It is the duty of union officers just as it is the duty of all similar trustees to put their obligations to the union and its members ahead of any personal interest. “The committee bill sets forth this principle unequivocally and declares that union officers and agents occupy positions of trust in relationship to labor organizations and their members. It then sets forth their duties in terms which the common law applies to all persons who undertake to act on behalf of others: “ * * * to hold its money and property solely for the benefit of the organization and its members and to manage, invest, and expend the same in accordance with its constitution and bylaws and any resolutions of the governing bodies adopted hereunder, to refrain from dealing with such organization as an adverse party in any matter connected with his duties and from holding or acquiring any pecuniary or personal interest which conflicts with the interests of such organization, and to account to the organization for any profit received by him in whatever capacity in connection with transactions conducted by him or under his direction on behalf of the organization. “We affirm that the committee bill is broader and stronger than the provision of S. 1555 which relate to fiduciary responsibilities. S. 1555 applied the fiduciary principle to union officials only in their handling of ‘money”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Pignotti v. Local #3 Sheet Metal Workers' International Ass'n · Frank Sabolsky v. Michael Budzanoski Appeal of Louis A. Antal

2. “Officers and other union representatives may not act adversely to their organization or to the members as a group, or acquire a personal interest which is contrary to the interests of the organization " (emphasis added). We would hesitate to adopt a construction of section 501 that would bring under the scrutiny of the federal courts virtually every aspect of the union's internal affairs, however remote from the handling of funds and property, conflicts of interest, and other issues traditionally subject to fiduciary principles. Furthermore, the district court's construction of section 501 to encompass protection of members' section 101 rights results, as far as we can tell, in protection duplicative of that afforded by section 101 itself. Nothing in the language, legislative history or purpose of section 501 seems to us to require such redundancy 31 Although the district court's other injunctive orders, supra p. 641, are not expressly based on any particular section, it is apparent that they do not rest on section 501. The orders ran not only against Baugh and DiGiulian, who are subject to section 501's fiduciary duty, but also against Local 31 itself, which is not subject to that duty but is rather a beneficiary of its officers' fiduciary duty. We assume, therefore, that those orders were based on section 102, which authorizes "such relief (including injunctions) as may be appropriate,”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Quinn v. Digiulian · Corea v. Welo

3. “The courts have with consistency refused to accede to the contention that § 501 is designed for the single purpose of establishing responsibility on the part of officers and other representatives in relation to the handling and managing of fiscal matters of the labor organization. Quite to the contrary, indication is clearly present in the reported cases that § 501 should receive a broad and liberal interpretation and application. [ 325 F.2d at 650 ],”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Richardson v. National Post Office Mail Handlers · Frank Sabolsky v. Michael Budzanoski Appeal of Louis A. Antal