The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments on January 10 in a case involving a somewhat obscure, but important, issue involving liability in a labor dispute. The case, Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), addresses the question of whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) preempts a state tort claim against a labor union for intentionally destroying an employer’s property in the course of such a dispute.

The employer in the current case, Glacier Northwest, is a company in Washington State that sells and delivers ready-mix concrete to businesses for construction projects. In August 2017, Glacier and the union representing its 80-90 drivers, IBT Local 174, were negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). During those negotiations, the drivers went on strike one day without notice. In doing so, they abandoned their delivery trucks, which caused the company to waste hundreds of cubic yards of concrete that had already been mixed for delivery.

In a lawsuit filed in state court, Glacier alleged that Local 174 intentionally waited until the concrete trucks were fully loaded for deliveries and then called the work stoppage, deliberately timing it to ensure the destruction of the company’s property. The case meandered through the courts, with both sides appealing ultimately to the Washington Supreme Court, which held that Glacier’s state law claim for damages was preempted by the NLRA.

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