Latest Case: Denton County Electric Coop v. NLRB (Labor & Employment Law)

The Third-Party Doctrine vs. Katz v. Untied States

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb proposes revising the third-party doctrine in a way that reconciles two of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions that some critics view as conflicting. Colb suggests that, contrary to what most critics argue and what she herself has long assumed, the prior decision, Katz v. United States rather than the later one, United States v. White, is the anomaly.

Read More

Denton County Electric Coop v. NLRB

Docket: 18-60474

Opinion Date: June 16, 2020

Judge: Jennifer Walker Elrod

Areas of Law: Labor & Employment Law

The Fifth Circuit withdrew its prior opinion and substituted the following opinion. The court denied in part and granted in part CoServ's petition for review and denied in part and granted in part the Board's cross-application for enforcement. The court held that CoServ's challenge against the Board's findings of unfair labor practices failed; under the governing four-factor test, substantial evidence supports the Board's finding that CoServ's unfair labor practices tainted the second decertification petition; as to the affirmative bargaining order, the Board failed to justify it under Fifth Circuit case law; and, because a bargaining order was not justified, the court vacated the order. The court also vacated the Board's issuance of the public-notice-reading order because it cannot be justified under the facts of this case.