Nat. Licorice Co. v. Labor Board

In Nat. Licorice Co. v. Labor Board (1940) 309 U.S. 350, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) instituted proceedings against an employer to enjoin it from enforcing a contract with its employees which violated the National Labor Relations Act. None of the employees, parties to the contract, were made parties to the NLRB proceeding. In answer to the claim the action could not proceed without their joinder, the Supreme Court stated, "different considerations may apply . . . where the rights asserted arise independently of any contract which an adverse party may have made with another, not a party to the suit, even though their assertion may affect the ability of the former to fulfill his contract. The rights asserted in the suit and those arising upon the contract are distinct and separate so that the Court may, in a proper case, proceed to judgment without joining other parties to the contract, shaping its decree in such manner as to preserve the rights of those not before it." ( Id. at p. 363.)