BE&K Construction Co. v. NLRB

E176643

First Amendment case United States Supreme Court case labor law case

BE&K Construction Co. v. NLRB is a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court case that addressed when an employer’s unsuccessful but reasonably based lawsuit against a union can be treated as an unfair labor practice under federal labor law.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
BE&K Construction Co. v. NLRB canonical	1
Bill Johnson’s Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB	1

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	First Amendment case ⓘ United States Supreme Court case ⓘ labor law case ⓘ
areaOfLaw	constitutional law ⓘ employment law ⓘ labor law ⓘ
chiefJusticeAtDecision	William H. Rehnquist ⓘ
citation	536 U.S. 516 ⓘ
clarified	interaction between labor law and the First Amendment right to petition ⓘ limits on the NLRB’s authority to penalize employer lawsuits ⓘ
constitutionalProvision	First Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ
country	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decisionDate	2002 ⓘ
docketNumber	01-518 ⓘ
holding	Petition Clause ⓘ surface form: The First Amendment right to petition protects reasonably based lawsuits, even if they are unsuccessful, from being penalized as unfair labor practices. The National Labor Relations Board may not treat an employer’s reasonably based but unsuccessful lawsuit against a union as an unfair labor practice solely because the suit was unsuccessful. ⓘ
impact	limited the circumstances under which the NLRB can treat employer litigation as coercive or retaliatory conduct ⓘ strengthened protections for employers’ access to courts in labor disputes ⓘ
jurisdiction	federal question jurisdiction ⓘ
languageOfProceedings	English ⓘ
legalIssue	First Amendment right to petition the government ⓘ Noerr-Pennington doctrine ⓘ employer lawsuits against unions ⓘ unfair labor practice ⓘ
lowerCourt	United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ⓘ
majorityOpinionBy	Sandra Day O’Connor ⓘ surface form: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
petitioner	BE&K Construction Company ⓘ
proceduralPosture	review of a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ⓘ
rejectedStandard	treating all unsuccessful employer lawsuits against unions as retaliatory and unlawful ⓘ
relatedCase	BE&K Construction Co. v. NLRB self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Bill Johnson’s Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB Professional Real Estate Investors, Inc. v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ⓘ
relatedDoctrine	Noerr-Pennington doctrine ⓘ surface form: Noerr-Pennington immunity for petitioning activity
respondent	National Labor Relations Board ⓘ
result	NLRB’s finding of an unfair labor practice based on BE&K’s lawsuit was set aside ⓘ
sectionInterpreted	National Labor Relations Act ⓘ surface form: Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act Section 8(a)(4) of the National Labor Relations Act ⓘ
standardApplied	objective reasonableness of the employer’s lawsuit ⓘ
statuteInterpreted	National Labor Relations Act ⓘ
subjectMatter	employer’s civil lawsuit against unions over alleged unlawful secondary activity ⓘ
timePeriod	Rehnquist Court ⓘ
topic	employer retaliation against unions ⓘ use of litigation as a potential unfair labor practice ⓘ
voteSplit	9-0 on the judgment ⓘ divided on reasoning with concurring opinions ⓘ
yearArgued	2002 ⓘ
yearDecided	2002 ⓘ

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Petition Clause → citedInCase → BE&K Construction Co. v. NLRB ⓘ

BE&K Construction Co. v. NLRB → relatedCase → BE&K Construction Co. v. NLRB self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Bill Johnson’s Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB