Utah filmmaker sues National Labor Relations Board, demands fair trial in real court

Denver; August 1, 2024: Today, David Wulf will file his opening brief against the National Labor Relations Board, demanding his right to a fair trial in a real federal court instead of an unconstitutional in-house tribunal.

“A labor dispute does not offer an exception to the Constitution’s right to a fair trial,” said Oliver Dunford, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “The NLRB must make its case to an unbiased judge in a real court, with a jury of Mr. Wulf’s peers, rather than stacking the deck via an in-house proceeding.”

Fifteen years ago, David traded a career in law for a career in cinema, working with stars such as Nicolas Cage, Jenna Ortega, and others. Over the years, he has built an impressive resume of more than 40 films.

On the first day of shooting one of his Hallmark films, a union arranged a strike of the drivers on his crew to interfere with the production. The union claimed that the strike was justified because one of David’s assistants threatened retaliation, which was blamed on David, who denies that he ordered any retaliation — and the record confirms it.

But the NLRB brought its charges before an in-house tribunal, overseen by an agency-employed “judge” who predictably sided with the union. When David appealed the decision — to the heads of the very agency that was prosecuting him — the agency not only reaffirmed the verdict but added on a compensatory-damage award, a power which the NLRB only “discovered” in 2022, almost 90 years after the National Labor Relations Act was passed.

The case is 3484, Inc. and 3486, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.