Ozark Automotive Distributors, Inc. v. NLRB
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
779 F.3d 576 (2015)
- Written by Heather Whittemore, JD
Facts
Ozark Automotive Distributors, Inc. (Ozark) (plaintiff) distributed automotive parts. In 2010 the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (the union) filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) (defendant) to represent a portion of Ozark’s employees. Ozark challenged the union and claimed that agents of the union harassed, threatened, and coerced Ozark employees to the point that a fair union election was impossible. The NLRB ordered a hearing on Ozark’s allegations. Ozark served subpoenas duces tecum—subpoenas for the production of documents—on the union and Oscar Castillo, an Ozark employee who Ozark believed to be acting as an agent of the union, for information related to the unionization effort. The union and Castillo argued that the subpoenas should be revoked, claiming the subpoenas threatened Ozark employees’ privacy interests related to their right to engage in union activity. Ozark argued that the information requested in the subpoenas was necessary for its case against the union. The hearing officer granted the requests to revoke Ozark’s subpoenas and declined the alternative of narrowing the scope of the subpoenas out of concern for the employees’ privacy interests. Adopting the hearing officer’s recommendations, the NLRB certified the union. Because there was no avenue for Ozark to seek direct review of the revocation of the subpoenas, it refused to bargain with the union. The union filed charges of unfair labor practices against Ozark, and Ozark challenged the certification of the union, arguing that Ozark’s subpoenas had been erroneously revoked.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Randolph, 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.