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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND CHRISTINA RENEEE LAW, TAMARA L. WORTHY, JARRELL WILSON, DIANE E. MILLER, JEAN A. PAVLOVICH, MARY BETH PEBBLES WHIDDON, ADAM P. : LUCAS and ADRIAN D. SMITH, JR., Plaintiffs : : : :

: : : v. : : INTERNATIONAL UNION OF : OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL : NO. 37, : Defendant : ...o0o... MEMORANDUM

CIVIL NO. AMD 01-2480

Pending before the court is defendant's motion to dismiss this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Although (paradoxically, as it turns out) the plaintiffs oppose the motion, I agree with the defendant that this court lacks, and indeed never had, subject matter jurisdiction over this case. Accordingly, as subject matter jurisdiction is plainly absent, I shall remand the case to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, from which defendant removed the case to this court. The facts may be briefly summarized as follows. The eight plaintiffs are former employees of Omni House Health Behavioral Services, Inc., which operates a health care facility in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. During the spring of 2001, authorized agents of the defendant union local undertook an organizing campaign with the aim of creating a bargaining unit at Omni. In the course of the organizing campaign, the plaintiffs engaged in picketing and

related collective action. Plaintiffs allege in their state court complaint that they received repeated assurances from union representatives and union attorneys that their activities were lawful and that they were protected from adverse action by their employer. In fact, Omni decided that, because its facility was a "health care institution," the picketing by plaintiffs, without the ten-day notice set forth in 29 U.S.C.

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Maryland Law