Continuing Legal Work
Although he later ended his relationship with Miller due to differences over Miller's leadership of the international union, Yablonski continued to serve as an attorney with his father's old District 5, advising on workers' compensation issues and acting as counsel until 1981.
Yablonski continued to represent individual miners in various cases throughout his life. In the 1980s, he won several black lung disease cases, overcoming employer objections to providing medical and financial benefits for stricken miners and their families.
In 1982, Yablonski won a precedent-setting Supreme Court case concerning attorney's fees.
United Steelworkers reformer Edward Sadlowski ran for president of the international union in 1977 and for District 31 president in 1973. He lost both times, and filed election fraud petitions with the United States Department of Labor (DOL). DOL found evidence of fraud and sued to overturn the 1973 election. The Steelworkers union settled the case out-of-court. Sadlowski then sued the union to recover his legal fees, incurred by Yablonski, Joseph Rauh and two others. On December 16, 1981, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the union must cover the cost of legal fees up until the time Sadlowski filed his DOL fraud claim. The award was a major victory for individuals who successfully sue their labor unions over corruption.
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