Branham v. General Electric Co.

63 F.R.D. 667, 15 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1070, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 502, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7651
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedJuly 12, 1974
DocketCiv. No. 7122
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 63 F.R.D. 667 (Branham v. General Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Branham v. General Electric Co., 63 F.R.D. 667, 15 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1070, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 502, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7651 (M.D. Tenn. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

MORTON, District Judge.

This is a class action brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. and under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Plaintiff alleges racial discrimination by the defendant General Electric Company in refusing him employment, as well as a general pattern of racial discrimination in defendant's employment practices.

By previous orders, the court has ruled that the suit may be maintained as a class action under Rule 23(b)(2), Fed.R.Civ.P., and that:

“Plaintiff is a proper representative of all black persons who have been denied, and are presently being denied, or will be denied employment by Defendant at Defendant’s plant at Hen-dersonville, Tennessee because of their race.”

Order April 2,1974 Vol. 62, page 9

The case is now before the court for consideration of the following matters: (1) Whether the action should be maintained under Rule 23(b)(3) rather than (b) (2); (2) Whether the class should be defined so as to exclude future black job applicants of defendant; and (3) The type of notice required to be given class members.

Defendant questions the appropriateness of a (b)(2) class in this action, and asserts that a class, if proper at all, should be defined under subsection (b)(3). The principal reasons offered in support of this are: (1) Defendant admits that racial discrimination in employment is proscribed by Title VII so there is therefore no legal issue in dispute from which the court-need declare the rights of the parties; and (2) The complaint seeks damages as well as in-junctive relief and thus is not properly maintainable as a (b) (2) action.

[669]*669Rule 23(b)(2) provides that a class action is proper whenever:

“the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with respect to the class as a whole.”

Plaintiff has alleged that defendant refused to hire him because of his race. Since racial discrimination is by its nature class discrimination, if plaintiff’s allegations are true, then defendant has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class as a whole. See Jenkins v. United Gas Corporation, 400 F.2d 28 (5th Cir. 1968); Hall v. Werthan Bag Corporation, 251 F.Supp. 184, 186 (M.D.Tenn.1966); see also Advisory Committee Notes to the 1966 Amendment of Rule 23, 39 F.R.D. 98, 102. Rule 23(b)(2) is therefore applicable and the class entitled to relief if race discrimination is proven includes not only those blacks who have been affected in the past but also those who may seek employment with defendant in the future. Cf. Bailey v. Patterson, 323 F.2d 201 (5th Cir. 1963).

Further, while it is true that (b)(2) actions are primarily suits for injunctive and/or declaratory relief, monetary relief incidental to the principal claim may also be awarded in (b)(2) actions. Robinson v. Lorillard Corporation, 444 F.2d 791 (4th Cir. 1971); Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc., 417 F.2d 1122 (5th Cir. 1969); see Bowe v. Colgate-Palmolive Company, 416 F.2d 711 (7th Cir. 1969).

The court also finds that this case justifies class-action treatment under Rule 23(b)(3). This is so because plaintiff’s allegations of race discrimination present questions of fact or law common to members of the class which predominate over questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is the superior method for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy. While, as defendant has argued, the fact or manner of the alleged discrimination may present individual questions of fact with respect to the hiring of a particular member of the class, “whether the Damoclean threat of a racially discriminatory policy hangs over the racial class is a question of fact common to all the members of the class.” Hall v. Werthan Bab Corporation, supra, 251 F.Supp. at 186. If the exis- • tence of discrimination by defendant is ultimately proved by plaintiff, then there may well develop questions of fact and law as to the effects of past discrimination which are not common to the entire class. Should that situation arise, the court can at that time modify the class structure under Rule 23(d), and, if necessary, order that damage questions be handled on an individual plaintiff basis.

In situations where both (b) (2) and (b)(3) are appropriate, it has been said that the (b)(2) action is preferable because of its broader res judicata effect, and that this is particularly so in civil rights suits. See Bing v. Roadway Express, Inc., 485 F.2d 441 (5th Cir. 1973); Johnson v. City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 50 F.R.D. 295 (E.D.La.1970). .To some courts the desirability of the (b) (2) action has appeared to stem, at least in part, from the opinion that notice is not required in (b) (2) class suits, e. g., Johnson v. City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, supra. However, there is a growing body of authority, including recent decisions of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, that notice, as a matter of due process, is required in all representative actions if the resulting judgment is to be binding on absent class members. Schrader v. Selective Service Sys. Loc. Bd. No. 76 of Wis., 470 F.2d 73 (7th Cir. 1972); Zeilstra v. Tarr, 466 F.2d 111 (6th Cir. 1972); Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 391 F.2d 555 (2nd Cir. 1968); Pasquier v. Tarr, 318 F.Supp. 1350 (E.D.La.1970), aff’d 444 F.2d 116 [670]*670(5th Cir. 1971); Cf. Gregory v. Tarr, 436 F.2d 513 (6th Cir. 1971) n.2, p. 514.

The question now before the court is the type of notice which will satisfy the requirements of due process of law. The central dispute between the parties herein is whether class members must receive individual notice. Defendant argues they must, and that since the class as defined includes persons who have not yet sought employment with defendant and whose identities are therefore unknown, they cannot be given individual notice and therefore cannot be bound by the judgment in this case. To the court, this demands far too much of the notice requirement in the context of class action litigation.

It is a well settled rule that due process requirements apply to class actions. See Hansberry v.

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63 F.R.D. 667, 15 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1070, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 502, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7651, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/branham-v-general-electric-co-tnmd-1974.