A state appeals court Friday upheld a trespassing injunction sought by Wal-Mart against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal said the case is part of a broader dispute about demonstrations that the union has held against Wal-Mart in various parts of the country.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. sought an injunction in Orange County circuit court against “future trespasses and nuisances,” Friday’s ruling said. A circuit judge granted the injunction, spurring the union to appeal. Friday’s ruling said the key issue in the appeal was whether Wal-Mart’s arguments about trespassing, based on state law, were trumped by the National Labor Relations Act. “Walmart’s trespass claim focused on the relatively straightforward question of whether UFCW’s (the union’s) actions exceeded the scope of the general easement provided to the public to come on to Walmart’s property to shop,” said Friday’s 11-page ruling, written by appeals-court Judge Jay Cohen and joined by judges Thomas Sawaya and Brian Lambert.
“The trespass claim did not require the trial court to address whether UFCW’s actions restrained or coerced Walmart employees; thus, it did not pose a risk of intruding on issues of federal labor law.”–News Service of Florida
