Old Dominion Branch No. 496, National Association of Letter Carriers v. Austin
United States Supreme Court
418 U.S. 264 (1974)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
Old Dominion Branch No. 496 (Branch) (defendant), a local union affiliated with the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (AFL-CIO) (defendant), published a list of scabs, or postal workers who had not joined the union, as part of a monthly newsletter. Henry Austin (plaintiff), a postal worker whose name appeared on the list, called Branch’s president and said that Austin did not know what a scab was but that he would sue if he was referred to as a scab again. The next Branch newsletter included not only the list, complete with Austin’s name, but also a piece of literature that defined “scab” in extremely insulting terms, including “traitor.” Austin and two other postal workers, L. D. Brown (plaintiff) and Roy Ziegengeist (plaintiff), brought suit for libel. The trial court and the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in favor of Austin, Brown, and Ziegengeist. Branch and AFL-CIO appealed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Marshall, J.)
Concurrence (Douglas, J.)
Dissent (Powell, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.