Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/256

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WOODDELL v. ELECTRICAL WORKERS Opinion of the Court

order reinstating him to a job from which he has been terminated, as the damages sought are for pay for jobs to which the union failed to refer him. Also, this Court has recently held that actions under the LMRDA are closely analogous to personal injury actions, Reed v. United Transportation Union, 488 U. S. 319, 326–327 (1989). A personal injury action is of course a prototypical example of an action at law, to which the Seventh Amendment applies. We agree with petitioner and hold that petitioner was entitled to a jury trial on the LMRDA cause of action, and we note that respondents now concede that Terry controls this case. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment below on this issue. III Whether the subject-matter jurisdiction conferred on the district courts by § 301 extends to suits on union constitutions brought by individual union members is strongly disputed by respondents. We agree with petitioner on this issue, however. In Smith v. Evening News Assn., 371 U. S. 195, 198 (1962), we held that the word “between” in § 301 refers to “contracts,” not “suits,” id., at 200–201. Hence, a suit properly brought under § 301 must be a suit either for violation of a contract between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce or for violation of a contract between such labor organizations. No employer-union contract is involved here; if the District Court had § 301 subject-matter jurisdiction over petitioner’s suit against his union, it is because his suit alleges a violation of a contract between two unions,3 and because § 301 is not 3 The § 301 issue is stated as follows by both petitioner and respondents: “Does section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act create a federal cause of action under which a union member may sue his union for a violation of the union constitution?” Brief for Petitioner i; Brief for Respondents i. As the text makes clear, the answer to that question is in the