Labor Law: Constitutional Law: Due Process of Law: State Power to Enjoin Peaceful Picketing

Plaintiff was a wholesale ice distributor, selling ice to independent contractors. Defendants were members and officers of a union which represented many of the truck drivers employed by these peddlers. In carrying out a scheme to unionize all peddlers, defendants attempted to obtain plaintiff's agreement not to sell ice to non-union peddlers. Such an agreement would violate the state anti-trust law. On plaintiff's refusal, defendants peacefully picketed its plant. Plaintiff immediately suffered an 85% loss of business, and the state court granted it an injunction against the picketing. On appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, held, affirmed. A state court may enjoin picketing which has as its principal object the violation of a valid state statute. Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. (U.S. 1949) 69 S.Ct. 684.