United States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 725 F. Supp. 162 (S.D.N.Y. 1989): Application III of the Independent Administrator

One of the first opinions implementing the 14 March 1989 Teamsters Consent Decree. The court upheld the court-appointed Independent Administrator's authority to hold disciplinary hearings on charges against two union officers.

Date: 1989-11-02
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: 88 Civ. 4486 (DNE) (S.D.N.Y.); 725 F. Supp. 162
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States (17 U.S.C. § 105). The text was read on CourtListener (Free Law Project).

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge David N. Edelstein, decided 2 November 1989. The opinion “arises out of the implementation of the voluntary settlement effected March 14, 1989, (‘the Consent Decree’)” between the Government and the Teamsters.

The Consent Decree created court officers, among them an Independent Administrator, Frederick B. Lacey, and an Investigations Officer. Harold Friedman, a Teamsters vice president, and Anthony Hughes objected that the Administrator had no jurisdiction to hear disciplinary charges against them. The court rejected their objections and denied their motions for preliminary injunctions.

The Second Circuit affirmed in 905 F.2d 610. The page describes the jurisdiction ruling only; it makes no statement about the charges themselves.

itemUnited States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 708 F. Supp. 1388 (S.D.N.Y. 1989)Judge David N. Edelstein denied the union's motions to dismiss the Government's 1988 civil RICO complaint against the Teamsters, its General Executive Board, "the Commission of La Cosa Nostra" and 26 alleged members of La Cosa Nostra, and granted default judgments against some defendants.itemUnited States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 905 F.2d 610 (2d Cir. 1990)The Second Circuit affirmed orders sustaining the Independent Administrator's disciplinary authority under the Teamsters Consent Decree, and rejected the argument that a General Executive Board resolution bound the Administrator.itemUnited States v. Presser, 844 F.2d 1275 (6th Cir. 1988)On a Government appeal in the prosecution of Teamsters president Jackie Presser and two others, the Sixth Circuit vacated a pretrial order to disclose "any and all impeachment evidence." The opinion recites the 1986 indictment over "ghost" employees at Local 507.