Bennett v. Tucker

127 F.R.D. 501, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1447, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9968, 54 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1377, 1989 WL 95579
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 17, 1989
DocketNo. 83 C 480
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 127 F.R.D. 501 (Bennett v. Tucker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bennett v. Tucker, 127 F.R.D. 501, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1447, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9968, 54 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1377, 1989 WL 95579 (N.D. Ill. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BRIAN BARNETT DUFF, District Judge.

In a series of three separate rulings, the Illinois Supreme Court held that anyone who had filed a complaint against an employer with the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission prior to September 16, 1978, and whose charge had not been processed by the FEPC within 180 days, lost his right to have his case pursued by the FEPC because the expiration of the 180-day period served as a jurisdictional bar to the FEPC's power. See Illinois Fair Employment Practices Act, Ill.Rev.Stat. 1977 ch. 48, § 858.01(a); Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Comm’n v. Fair Employment Practices Commission, 71 Ill.2d 61, 15 Ill.Dec. 623, 373 N.E.2d 1307 (1978); Board of Governors of States Colleges and Universities for Chicago State University v. Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission, 78 Ill.2d 143, 35 Ill.Dec. 524, 399 N.E.2d 590 (1979); appeal dismissed sub nom., Zackai v. Board of Governors of States Colleges and Universities for Chicago State University, 449 U.S. 807, 101 S.Ct. 54, 66 L.Ed.2d 11 (1980); Wilson v. All-Steel, Inc., 87 Ill.2d 28, 56 Ill.Dec. 897, 428 N.E.2d 489 (1981). In Zimmerman Brush Co. v. Fair Employment Practices Commission, 82 Ill.2d 99, 44 Ill.Dec. 308, 411 N.E.2d 277 (1980), the Illinois Supreme Court applied the analyses of those three cases in ruling that the FEPC’s failure to hold a fact-finding conference within 120 days of the filing of a complaint also served as a jurisdictional bar to FEPC power. See FEPA, Ill.Rev.Stat.1979 ch. 48, II 858(b). In Logan v. Zimmerman, 455 U.S. 422, 102 S.Ct. 1148, 71 L.Ed.2d 265 (1982), the United States Supreme Court reversed the latter ruling. It held that, because the jurisdictional bar deprived the complainant of any mechanism for enforcing his rights under the FEPA, the bar deprived the complainant of due process of law.

Reasoning that what the Supreme Court held in Logan applied as well to the 180-day jurisdictional bar established in the earlier trilogy, plaintiffs Roy Bennett and Hattie Cunningham brought this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuit as a class action on behalf of all persons who had filed charges with the FEPC before September 16, 1978 (the date the Illinois legislature amended 11 858.01(a)’s 180-day jurisdictional bar) and for whom the FEPC had failed to act with[503]*503in the 180-day period. The plaintiffs sued Joyce E. Tucker, Director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights (the successor agency to the FEPC), seeking an injunction ordering her to reopen all of the cases which had been administratively closed pursuant to the Illinois Supreme Court’s rulings. Without certifying the class, this court granted summary judgment against these two plaintiffs on grounds peculiar to them. Bennett v. Tucker, 634 F.Supp. 355 (N.D.Ill.1986).

On appeal, the Seventh Circuit first noted that there was some question as to the finality of this court’s order in light of this court’s failure to address the class certification issue. Bennett v. Tucker, 827 F.2d 63, 67 (7th Cir.1987). The Court of Appeals determined that the omission must have resulted from this court’s mistaken belief that the judge from whom the case had been transferred already had certified the class. Id. Because “the named plaintiffs in this case seem fully representative of the class, thereby removing any basis for believing that the district court may have deliberately deferred certification,” id., the Court decided to treat the case as if this court had certified the plaintiff class, and to assume appellate jurisdiction. Id. The Court then reversed this court’s grant of summary judgment as to both named plaintiffs. Id. at 73.

On remand to this court, the plaintiffs quite properly have moved for a formal order certifying the class pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 23. The defendant, noting that the Seventh Circuit stated only that the proposed class looked like a class and smelled like a class, not that it was a class, has raised three new grounds for not certifying the class proposed by the plaintiffs. This court hesitates to question the Seventh Circuit’s considered judgment that this court should have certified this class. Yet, the magnitude of this case, and the Seventh Circuit’s presumably deliberate decision not to order certification, compels this court to address the defendant’s specific arguments against certification.

DISCUSSION

The Vergil Class Action

The defendant first argues that this court should deny certification of the proposed class because, contrary to the mandates of Rule 23(b)(2), the defendant’s grounds for refusing to pursue the FEPA cases differ between two groups of defendants. Specifically, the defendant contends that those plaintiffs who filed charges prior to March 30, 1978 are barred from relying on Logan by their failure to appeal or otherwise pursue an earlier class action in which they were parties, Vergil v. Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission, No. 78 L 13044 (Cook County, Illinois, Circuit Court). This argument requires a digression to the history of the instant litigation.

On March 30, 1978, the Illinois Supreme Court issued Springfield-Sangamon. That case held that the FEPC could not proceed on an employee’s complaint against an employer because the agency had not complied with FEPA time limitations, and because the employer was prejudiced by the FEPC’s delay. 71 I11.2d at 73, 15 111. Dec. 623, 373 N.E.2d 1307. Two weeks later, the FEPC adopted an “Interim Policy Regarding ‘Backlogged’ Charges,” which provided in part as follows:

For charges in which complaints have not been issued within 180 days, the following policies have been adopted as of this date:
I. Uninvestigated Charges
Charges which have not been assigned for investigation or in which the investigation is not completed shall be placed on a deferred status. Further investigation will be suspended indefinitely. The Commission will attempt to contact the complainants, advise them of this policy, and determine whether they wish to keep their cases pending.

Two individuals whose charges had been placed on deferred status subsequently filed a class action against the FEPC’s interim policy in Illinois circuit court. They alleged that the FEPC’s policy violated their rights under the FEPA, and sought a declaration to this effect. On August 25, [504]

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Bluebook (online)
127 F.R.D. 501, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1447, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9968, 54 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1377, 1989 WL 95579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bennett-v-tucker-ilnd-1989.