Coaching boxes

[DJWickham]

Pete: Great question. The bad news is that there might not be a lawful basis to ban all disabled umpires. I think we'll see some litigation on this.

Warren: The law stuff is pretty boring, but it is a myth that a non-party is not subject to an injunction (at least in the US). Here' what one federal court said on the question:

"Nonparties are liable for contempt of an injunction if, with notice of the injunction, the nonparty aids or abets the enjoined party in the violation of the injunction or if the nonparty is a successor in interest to the property subject to litigation. Panther Pumps & Equipment Co. v. Hydrocraft, Inc., 566 F.2d 8, 12 (7th Cir. 1977). cert. denied, [*11] 435 U.S. 1013 (1978); Herrlein v. Kanakis, 526 F.2d 252, 254 (7th Cir. 1975); Waffenschmidt v. Mackay, 763 F.2d 711, 714 (5th Cir. 1985), cert. denied 474 U.S. 1056, 88 L. Ed. 2d 771, 106 S. Ct. 794 (1986). As the court stated in Chanel Industries, Inc. v. Pierre Marche, Inc., 199 F. Supp. 748, 753 (E.D. Mo. 1961):

'The injunction of the Court is binding upon the parties-defendant and those in privity with them so that defendants may not nullify a decree by carrying out prohibitive acts through aiders and abettors although they were not parties to the original proceeding. . . . Courts have repeatedly held that if a person has actual knowledge of an injunction he may be amenable to it even where not a party to the suit and was not served with a copy of the injunction. . . . Id. at 753.'

The policy behind extending an injunction to non-party agents of enjoined defendants is simply to prevent defendants from indirectly nullifying a decree by carrying out prohibited acts [*12] through aiders and abettors or successors in interest. See Regal Knitwear Co. v. N.L.R.B., 324 U.S. 9, 14, 89 L. Ed. 661, 65 S. Ct. 478 (1945)."

As a practical matter, the judge won't care about what the umpires do as long as the game gets played in compliance with the order. If all umpires refuse to participate or if a game gets suspended because an umpire leaves the field, then someone may need their toothbrush. In the words of one of our local judges: "You may have come in through the front door, but you are going out the back door!"

[Edited by DJWickham on Mar 28th, 2001 at 12:34 PM]