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No. 12330
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 1973
WAYNE LOWE, JOHN HAMERELL, RICHARD DICKINSON, et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, -vs -ROBERT D. o'CONNER, contractor, Defendant and Respondent.
Appeal from: District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, Honorable E. Gardner Brownlee, Judge presiding Counsel of Record:
For Appellants : Mulroney, Delaney and Dalby, Missoula, Montana Stephen H. Dalby and John 0. Mudd argued, Missoula,
Montana
For Respondent :
Tipp, Hoven and Brault , Missoula , Montana
Raymond Tipp argued, Missoula , Montana

submitted : September 25, 1973 Decided :BOY 1 lgn
Mr. Justice Wesley Castles delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Plaintiffs brought this action in the district court
of the fourth judicial district, county of Missoula, to recover
employee benefit contributions from defendant Robert D. O'Connor
as a member of the Missoula Construction Council. Defendant
denied membership in the Missoula Construction Council and the
cause was submitted on stipulated facts. The district court,
sitting without a jury, entered a judgment that plaintiffs take
nothing by the complaint. From this judgment plaintiffs appeal.

The sole issue presented for review is whether or not
defendant made an effective withdrawal from the Missoula Construc-
tion Council. The stipulated facts indicate that defendant be-
came a member of the Council, which acted as an employers' bar-
gaining unit, on January 1, 1964. Such membership required only
the payment of dues. The Missoula Construction Council did not
have established procedures regarding withdrawal from membership.
Defendant stopped paying membership dues in June 1967 and gave
oral notice of his withdrawal to the Council secretary. He did
not give written notice to the Council, the unions or the plain-
tiff trusts.

In May 1968, the Missoula Construction Council entered
into contracts with the appropriate unions covering the period
May 1, 1968 to May 1, 1971. The membership list of the Council
was submitted to the unions and plaintiff trusts. This list
inadvertently included the name of defendant as a member of the
bargaining unit. The contracts provided that the members of
the Missoula Construction Council would be bound to the contract
provisions requiring contributions be made to the plaintiff
trusts. Defendant failed to make the contributions required by
the contracts. Plaintiff trusts contend that defendant did not

effectively withdraw from the Council and seek to compel the payment of the contributions.
In considering plaintiffs' claim that defendant's with- drawal from the Construction Council was ineffective, we first observe that federal law controls. A dispute involving a col-lective bargaining agreement falls within the purview of Section 301 of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C.

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Montana Law