Garrett v. R. J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.

81 F.R.D. 25, 19 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 13
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedDecember 27, 1978
DocketCiv. A. Nos. C-75-539-WS, C-76-176-WS
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 81 F.R.D. 25 (Garrett v. R. J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garrett v. R. J. Reynolds Industries, Inc., 81 F.R.D. 25, 19 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 13 (M.D.N.C. 1978).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HIRAM H. WARD, District Judge.

Class action lawsuits are often complex and laborious, and the history of these two related actions is no exception. On December 15, 1975, Joseph H. Garrett, Ramona B. Holden and Marie Singletary commenced Garrett, et al. v. Industries, C-75-539-WS, alleging that on the basis of race and sex, they had been discriminated against by defendant, R. J. Reynolds Industries (Industries), in its employment practices, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (Title VII) and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. They sought to represent all blacks, who, since July 2, 1965, [27]*27had been, were presently, or would be in the future discriminated against on the basis of race and sex by the defendant.

Garrett, a black male, was employed by Industries in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from April, 1973, until December, 1973. Holden, a black female, alleged that she had been employed by Industries in Winston-Salem from February, 1975, until July, 1975. Holden was initially hired as a temporary employee of Industries on January 8, 1975. She became a regular employee of Industries’ subsidiary R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (Tobacco) from February 3, 1975, until her discharge in July, 1975. Marie Singletary, a black female, was employed by Industries in Winston-Salem from October, 1973 until June, 1975.

On January 7, 1976, Industries moved to dismiss a part of the action inasmuch as the complaint failed to allege facts supporting this Court’s jurisdiction under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(l). Holden and Singletary failed to allege they had exhausted their administrative remedies and Garrett stated he had received his right-to-sue letter more than 90 days prior to the filing of the complaint.1

On January 27,1976, the plaintiffs moved to amend their complaint to show that plaintiffs Holden and Singletary had now been advised of their right to sue. On April 13, 1976, plaintiffs Holden and Singletary filed a separate action (entitled Holden, et al. v. R. J. Reynolds Industries, C-76-176-WS) against Industries alleging the same class action sex and race discrimination at issue in Garrett. Therefore, the Court denied plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint in Garrett and dismissed the 42 U.S.C. § 2000e claims, directing the Garrett action to proceed only on the 42 U.S.C. § 1981 claim.

Garrett v. Industries

Although the two suits followed a similar pattern moving through discovery, for ease of understanding each will be discussed separately. The plaintiffs in Garrett moved for class certification on May 10, 1976, although they actually sought postponement of class certification until “all” discovery was completed. Plaintiffs also moved to further amend their complaint to add Holden’s permanent employer, Tobacco, as an additional defendant. Industries opposed the motion and moved to dismiss the action as to the plaintiff Holden or in the alternative to grant summary judgment on the claims of Holden because she was not employed by Industries during the relevant time period covered by the allegations of the complaint. The latter motion was supported by an uncontested affidavit.

Magistrate Smith conducted an initial pre-trial conference on June 16, 1976. He recommended that plaintiffs be allowed to amend their complaint to add Tobacco, alleging a violation of Section 1981 only, and that plaintiffs’ motion to compel answers to interrogatories be granted with limited exceptions. The Magistrate further recommended deferring a decision on Industries’ motion to dismiss Holden’s claims until the completion of discovery. The defendant, Industries, appealed to this Court from the Magistrate’s ruling that it fully answer certain interrogatories and his recommendation to allow the plaintiffs to add Tobacco as a party. Counsel for all parties subsequently conferred in an attempt to resolve their discovery conflicts.

On November 23, 1976, a hearing was held on plaintiff’s motion for class certification. At that hearing, plaintiffs filed eight documents.2 However, the contents of the official file failed to reflect the results of all discovery which had taken' place. The Court ordered the parties to meet in an [28]*28effort to agree to a protective order and to submit all discovery material to the Court for in-camera review. In addition, the Court required that the parties meet and stipulate what' issues remained outstanding.3 The stipulation was filed on December 5, 1976.

On March 7,1977, the plaintiffs moved to depose Marshall Bass, Corporate Director, Personnel Development, for R. J. Reynolds Industries. By order dated August 12, 1977, the Court allowed plaintiffs to depose Bass as to the existence of any joint operation or control between Tobacco and Industries concerning personnel practices and employment opportunities. The Court provided both sides the opportunity to file additional briefs on the issue of class certification and on the issue of whether Tobacco should be added as a party defendant.

Subsequently on December 1, 1977, Clara Pinkney and Robert Burt, former employees of Industries, filed a motion to intervene in this action.

Thus in Garrett v. Industries, C-75-539WS, the following items require the attention of this Court:

(1) Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification.
(2) Plaintiffs’ Motion to Add Tobacco as a Party Defendant.
(3) Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Holden’s claims.
(4) Plaintiffs’ and Defendant’s various discovery motions.
(5) Pinkney’s and Burt’s Motion to Intervene.

Motion for Class Certification — Garrett v. Industries

While the plaintiffs originally sought to represent a much broader class, the plaintiffs now seek to have certified a class defined as follows:

[A]ll black applicants for employment at and employees of R. J. Reynolds Industries Inc. in Forsyth County, North Carolina, who have been denied employment or limited in or denied employment opportunities because of their race or color at anytime since [Dec. 15, 1972].4

Rule 23(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, entitled Prerequisites to a Class Action, provides that “[o]ne or more members of a class may sue ... as representative parties on behalf of all only if

(1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable,
(2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class,
(3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and

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Related

Kincade v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
694 F. Supp. 368 (M.D. Tennessee, 1987)
Lilly v. Harris-Teeter Supermarket
545 F. Supp. 686 (W.D. North Carolina, 1982)
Woodard v. Lehman
530 F. Supp. 139 (D. South Carolina, 1982)
Fowler v. Blue Bell, Inc.
92 F.R.D. 475 (N.D. Alabama, 1981)
Holden v. R. J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.
82 F.R.D. 157 (M.D. North Carolina, 1979)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 F.R.D. 25, 19 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garrett-v-r-j-reynolds-industries-inc-ncmd-1978.