Towns v. Directors Guild of America

The Directors Guild of America, Inc. (DGA) (defendant) was the labor union for directors and production managers in the television-and-film industry. DGA had a negotiated collective-bargaining agreement with industry employers. The agreement required the use of qualification lists in hiring. These were lists of individuals qualified to be hired based on their work experience. Individuals could apply to the DGA Contract Administration (DGACA) to be included on the qualification list. An individual did not have to be a member of the DGA to be on the qualification list. Marvin Towns (plaintiff) was a member of DGA and worked as a production manager for the television series The Haves & Have Nots, which filmed in Georgia. DGA informed the show, however, that Towns was not on the qualification list. As a result, the show terminated Towns’s employment. Towns sued DGA. First, Towns alleged a violation of Georgia’s right-to-work law, which prohibited any requirement that an individual join a labor organization as a precondition of employment. Towns argued that the qualification list was a labor organization. Second, Towns brought state-law tort claims such as tortious interference with a contractual relationship. DGA filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that Towns was never required to join a labor organization and that the federal Labor Management Relations Act (the act) preempted Towns’s state-law claims. The district court granted the motion. Towns appealed, arguing for the first time on appeal that the DGACA was a labor organization.