Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993 TAG: 9311300162
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Lawyers for the the federal government and a state court official directed to collect the $52 million said the fines imposed by a Virginia judge were acceptable warnings to the union.
A main question is whether the $52 million in fines, believed to be the highest set of civil contempt citations ever imposed by a U.S. court, should be considered civil or criminal penalties. Criminal fines are subject to greater review.
The justices gave little indication in their questioning on how they will rule when they decide the matter, probably early next year.
The fines stemmed from a strike by the United Mine Workers Union and its District 28 against two affiliated coal companies, Clinchfield Coal and Sea "B" Mining Co., from April through December 1989.
Union attorney Laurence Gold argued that the fines amounted to criminal sanctions and the union therefore should have been afforded more procedural protections, including a jury trial.
But attorneys for the state court official directed to collect the fines and the U.S. government maintained that the penalties were civil actions designed to head off violence and were within the authority of Circuit Judge Donald McGlothlin.
The penalties were "a warning" to the union to prevent future action "and not . . . to punish," argued John Roberts, an attorney for the Virginia court official.
Early in the strike, the state barred the union from certain unlawful conduct and ordered union to stop violence and intimidation.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***