Hotel & Restaurant Employees & Bartenders Union v. Francesco's B., Inc.

This is an appeal from a judgment of dismissal entered upon the sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend.

Appellant Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Union, Local 28 (hereafter Union) seeks damages from respondents for interference with the Union’s affairs.

Respondents include owners and operators of three restaurants (all of whom are collectively referred to herein as the Employers) and five individuals who were unsuccessful candidates in the November 1977 election of Union officers (herein Unsuccessful Candidates).

Appellant’s complaint in its first cause of action alleged that the respondents interfered with the Union in violation of the Labor Code when the employers gave money to the Unsuccessful Candidates to promote their candidacies in a union election. In a second cause of action, the complaint alleged that all of the respondents interfered, and conspired to interfere with the relationship between the Union and numerous unnamed “hotel and culinary employers,” causing the Union damages in an unspecified amount. The Union asked for $1 million in punitive damages.

The issue presented to us is whether appellant’s complaint states a cause of…