Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms agreed Tuesday afternoon to issue a restraining order limiting the activities of Heaven Hill workers picketing the company’s facilities.
The order prohibits burning within 250 feet of the facilities’ entrances or warehouses, bars picketers from blocking entrances and prohibits them from tailing any trucks entering or exiting the facilities, as well as harassment of employees at affiliated companies, among other details.
“I think anybody has a right to protest or picket,” Simms said during a hearing via teleconference with attorneys for Heaven Hill and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23D, which represents the workers. “But we can’t be violating the law.”
Heaven Hill filed suit against the union Monday, in which it accused workers on the picket line of damaging trucks as they tried to enter and exit the facilities and harassing the truck drivers. Heaven Hill’s attorneys also claimed someone damaged a truck of a contract hauler by adding some sort of substance into the gas tank, resulting in $20,000 in damages.
The union attorneys disputed those assertions, and said Heaven Hill was exaggerating picketers’ actions.
Heaven Hill’s attorneys pushed for a bar on “harassing” workers who passed through the picket lines, but Simms said a narrower definition was needed.
“I don’t want anybody being harassed, but everybody has a different definition of harassed,” Simms said.
He referred to one of the affidavits where a claim of harassment mentioned a picketing worker calling someone “Paul Blart,” the name of the lead character in the movie, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”
Simms limited the motion to barring unlawful harassment, such as threats of violence, but said picketers have Constitutional rights that must be preserved.
“People have a freedom of speech to say what they want to say within the limits of the law,” Simms said.
Heaven Hill’s attorneys said some contract workers had been followed to their homes and felt threatened. Simms said that the prohibition against anyone following or tailing any vehicle should remedy any similar situation.
Heaven Hill attorneys also wanted picketers barred from the public roadway, but Simms said he would not prohibit workers crossing the road. But he warned the union against using crossing as a way to limit trucks’ access.
“I’m telling you right now, if you have a camera up there and somebody is pulling in and somebody keeps walking in front of them, you file a motion. I’m telling you right now, the court enforces its orders in Nelson County,” Simms said. “Somebody will be held in contempt. Somebody will be paying a big fine.”
Simms said local law enforcement did not have time to referee differences between the parties and he warned both sides he would not tolerate gamesmanship.
“I’m not going to put up with chaos,” Simms said.
Simms directed Heaven Hill’s lawyers to draft the restraining order per his guidelines and said he would sign off on it Tuesday afternoon.
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