National Labor Relations Board v. Calvert

Calvert was the sole owner of E.L.C., an electrical contracting company. After a labor organization unsuccessfully campaigned to unionize his workforce, Calvert laid off most of E.L.C.’s electricians, effectively preventing future unionization attempts. The NLRB determined that E.L.C. violated the National Labor Relations Act prohibition on discrimination against workers for exercising their statutory rights, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(3) and ordered E.L.C. to compensate the electricians with backpay. Calvert shifted E.L.C.’s operations to new corporate entities. The NLRB discovered Calvert’s plan and held him personally responsible for the backpay award. Facing more than $400,000 in liability, Calvert filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Board argued that the debt was not dischargeable because it arose from a willful and malicious injury, 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(6). Calvert denied that he acted maliciously. The bankruptcy judge declined to apply collateral estoppel and found that Calvert had not acted maliciously, so the debt was not exempt from discharge. In the district court, the Board again raised collateral estoppel but failed to analyze the elements of the doctrine or provide citations to the agency record. The district judge and Seventh Circuit affirmed. The Board did not challenge the evidence or the factual findings but based its entire case on collateral estoppel while providing only a generalized discussion of preclusion doctrine that is untethered to specific findings. View "National Labor Relations Board v. Calvert" on Justia Law