O'Neil v. Behanna

Citations

• 182 Pa. 236
• 38 L.R.A. 382
• 37 A. 843
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 799

Syllabus

<p>' Equity — Injunction—Strikes—Display of force — Intimidation.</p> <p>A display of force by strikers against laborers who wish to work, such as surrounding-them in large numbers, applying opprobrious epithets to them and urging them in a hostile manner not to go to work, though no force be actually used, is as much intimidation as violence itself. Such conduct will be restrained by injunction, and the actors will be liable in damages to the employer of the laborers.</p> <p>Where new men, employed to take the place of strikers are on their way to work, their time cannot be lawfully taken up and their progress interfered with by the strikers on any pretense or under any claim of right to argu^'or,'persuade them to break their contracts.</p> <p>On a^billfin equity for an injunction to restrain strikers from interfering with men employed in their place, the evidence showed that the new men were followed from their point of embarkation to their destination and importuned not to work; that they wei-e met by the strikers in considerable numbers and called “ scabs ” and “ blacklegs; ” that they were sometimes surrounded, and efforts were made to pull them away. Held, that the plaintiff was entitled to an injunction.</p> <p>Where a bill has been filed against strikers for an injunction and for damages for injuries caused by their illegal conduct, the plaintiff has a right to proceed with the ease after the strike is over, for the purpose of recovering damages, and it is improper for a judge to express from the bench an opinion that the case should have been dropped.</p>