Easterling v. Connecticut Department of Correction

278 F.R.D. 41, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134524, 2011 WL 5864829
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedNovember 22, 2011
DocketCriminal No. 3:08-cv-826 (JCH)
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 278 F.R.D. 41 (Easterling v. Connecticut Department of Correction) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Easterling v. Connecticut Department of Correction, 278 F.R.D. 41, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134524, 2011 WL 5864829 (D. Conn. 2011).

Opinion

RULING RE: MOTION TO DECERTIFY CLASS (DOC. NO. 142)

JANET C. HALL, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This court granted plaintiff Cherie Easter-ling’s Motion for Class Certification under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2) on January 4, 2010. See Ruling Re: Class Cert. (Doe. No. 75). The defendant, State of Connecticut Department of Correction, has moved the court to decertify the class based on the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. -, 131 S. Ct. 2541,180 L.Ed.2d 374 (2011). See Mot. to Decertify Class (Doc. No. 142). In her response, the plaintiff asks the court to instead convert the existing class to a hybrid class, maintaining the Rule 23(b)(2) certification with regard to the issues of liability and class-wide injunctive relief and certifying a separate class under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3) with regard to the determination of monetary damages and individualized injunctive relief. The court heard oral argument on the Motion on November 4, 2011. For the following [44]*44reasons, the court denies the defendant’s Motion to Decertify the class and, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(c)(1)(C), modifies its earlier certification order as requested by the plaintiff.

II. BACKGROUND1

The State of Connecticut Department of Correction (“DOC”) employs Correction Officers (“COs”), who are responsible for the confinement, safety, control, and monitoring of inmates in its facilities, and for the security of those facilities. Defendant’s Local Rule 56(a)(1) Statement (“Def.’s 56(a)(1)”), ¶2. In addition to satisfying certain preliminary criteria, applicants for CO positions with the DOC must pass, first, a written examination and, second, a physical fitness test. Plaintiffs Corrected Local Rule 56(a)(1) Statement (“Pl.’s 56(a)(1)”), ¶¶ 2, 4. If both tests are passed, an applicant proceeds to an interview, followed by a background investigation and medical examination. Id. ¶ 8.

The physical fitness test administered by DOC consists of four parts, and failing any single part causes a candidate to fail the entire test. Def.’s 56(a)(1), ¶23. In 2004 and 2006, the physical fitness test included: (1) a sit and reach test; (2) a one minute situp test; (3) a one minute push-up test; and (4) a timed 1.5 mile run. Id. The time in which the 1.5 mile run had to be completed varied by age and gender. Pl.’s 56(a)(1), Ex. 4.

In 2004, Easterling applied to work as a CO with the DOC. Pl.’s 56(a)(1), ¶ 1. She passed the written examination and three of the four components of the physical fitness test, but she failed to complete the 1.5 mile run within the time allotted for her age/gender cohort. Id. ¶¶ 3, 5-6. As a result, she was precluded from advancing to the interview stage of the selection process. Id. ¶ 7.

In 2008, Easterling filed suit against DOC, alleging that its physical fitness test had a disparate impact on female applicants in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”). On January 4, 2010, the court certified the suit as a class action under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil procedure. See Ruling Re: Mot. for Class Cert. (Doc. No. 75). On May 5, the court granted summary judgment for the plaintiff on the issue of liability. See Ruling Re: Mots, for Summ. J. (Doc. No. 133).

III. LEGAL STANDARD

“Even after a certification order is entered, the judge remains free to modify it in light of subsequent developments in the litigation.” General Telephone Co. of Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 160, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(1) (“An order that grants or denies class certification may be altered or amended before final judgment.”). However, a court “may not disturb its prior findings absent ‘some significant intervening event’ or ‘a showing of compelling reasons to reexamine the question.’” Doe v. Karadzic, 192 F.R.D. 133, 136-37 (S.D.N.Y.2000) (internal citations omitted). “Compelling reasons for reexamination include an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” Id. (citing Wilder v. Bernstein, 645 F.Supp. 1292, 1311-12 (S.D.N.Y.1988)) (internal quotation marks omitted).

A court should be wary of revoking a certification order completely at a late stage in the litigation process. See Woe v. Cuomo, 729 F.2d 96, 107 (2d Cir.1984) (“[A] class can always be modified or subdivided as issues are refined for trial____ [I]t is an extreme step to dismiss a suit simply by decertifying a class, where a potentially proper class exists and can easily be created.”) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); see also Langley v. Coughlin, 715 F.Supp. 522, 552 (S.D.N.Y.1989) (“[T]he Court must take into consideration that an eve-of-trial decerti-fication could adversely and unfairly prejudice class members, who may be unable to protect their own interests.”).

[45]*45IY. DISCUSSION

A. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes and Rule 28(b)(2)

Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“23(b)(2)”) provides for class litigation where “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.” Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dukes, multiple circuits had held that the relief sought by a 23(b)(2) class need not be solely injunctive or declaratory in nature. See Robinson v. Metro-North Commuter Railroad Co., 267 F.3d 147, 169-70 (2d Cir.2001) (collecting cases). Under Second Circuit precedent, a district court could use Rule 23(b)(2) to certify a class seeking both injunctive and monetary relief so long as “(1) the positive weight or value to the plaintiffs of the injunctive or declaratory relief sought [was] predominant [over the value or the monetary relief] ... and (2) class treatment would be efficient and manageable.” 267 F.3d at 164 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, however, the Supreme Court rejected the Second Circuit’s broad reading of Rule 23(b)(2):2

Rule 23(b)(2) applies only when a single injunction or declaratory judgment would provide relief to each member of the class.

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Bluebook (online)
278 F.R.D. 41, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134524, 2011 WL 5864829, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/easterling-v-connecticut-department-of-correction-ctd-2011.