Hawkins v. Fulton County

95 F.R.D. 88, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13809, 29 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 762
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJuly 1, 1982
DocketCiv. A. No. C81-767
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 95 F.R.D. 88 (Hawkins v. Fulton County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hawkins v. Fulton County, 95 F.R.D. 88, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13809, 29 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 762 (N.D. Ga. 1982).

Opinion

ORDER

ORINDA D. EVANS, District Judge.

This employment discrimination action is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ motions to add Vera Mae Childers and Ralph Lee West as parties-plaintiff, Rule 21 Fed.R.Civ.P., Plaintiffs’ renewed motion for class certification, Rule 23 Fed.R.Civ.P., Defendants’ objection to discovery, and Plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery, Rules 36 and 37, Fed.R.Civ.P.1

Rule 21 Motion

Rule 21, Fed.R.Civ.P., reads in relevant part: “Parties may be dropped or added by order of the court on motion of any party or of its own initiative at any stage of the action and on such terms as are just.”

Plaintiffs seek to add Vera Mae Childers and Ralph Lee West as parties-plaintiff to this action. These two persons were allegedly denied employment by Defendants on the basis of race and sex, as opposed to Hawkins who alleges that he was discriminated against in the areas of promotion and transfer after he was already employed, and Davis who alleges she was constructively discharged. However, Plaintiffs assert that because the proposed new plaintiffs’ claims “arise from the same series of events and circumstances as those from which plaintiffs’ arise,” there are common questions of law and fact which apply to both sets of claims. It is also asserted that there are no conflicts between the existing and proposed plaintiffs, and that this motion is timely filed because it is still early in the litigation.

Defendants oppose this motion on the grounds that the proposed plaintiffs have a different claim than the present plaintiffs which is not included in the original complaint, that the additional discovery would result in prejudicial delays to them and that the motion is not timely.

The determination of a Rule 21 motion is wholly within the sound discretion of the trial judge. See Gilbert v. General Electric co., 347 F.Supp. 1058 (E.D.Va. 1972). After examining the record, the Court is satisfied that it is appropriate to exercise its discretion in a manner which will enable Childers and West to become parties to this litigation as plaintiffs.

The basis of the Court’s decision is not that the claims of the new Plaintiffs and those of the original Plaintiffs are similar, but rather that there are potential common questions of fact involved in the various claims. See Jones v. United Gas Improvement Corp., 68 F.R.D. 1, 5 (E.D.Pa.1975). Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that the same people were in charge of both hiring and promotion decisions for Defendant. The discovery done to this point at the least shows this to be a distinct possibility. Because an inquiry into the motives of these decision makers will be necessary in a trial on the hiring and promotion claims, there appears to be enough carryover for the Court to find joinder of the proposed Plaintiffs to be proper at this time. The Court is influenced in this decision by the fact that Defendant Police Department is a relatively small scale employer. This makes the possibility of an overlap in the various decision making processes much more likely. Therefore, joinder will be allowed at this time. Should it later turn out that the decisions on hiring are made by a totally different person or group of persons than the promotion decisions, the possibility of a severance of the claims will be examined.

Defendants’ objection regarding the lack of a hiring discrimination charge in the Complaint is a good argument that cannot prevail. As noted in the Court’s earlier [91]*91Order denying class certification, Plaintiffs’ pleadings in this matter have not always been a model of clarity. However, reading the Complaint in the broad and expansive manner that is required in civil rights and employment discrimination actions, the Court finds that there is sufficient language in the Complaint to have put Defendants on notice of a lawsuit which might include an attack on its hiring practice. For instance, paragraph 5 of the Complaint states that “Defendants, agents and the employees [sic] have discriminated and are continuing to discriminate on the basis of race, color, and sex against Plaintiffs in, but not limited to, the following manner . ... ” (emphasis added). The paragraph goes on to list various allegations of discrimination in the areas of transfers and promotions.

If the language of the Complaint was unclear as to the extent of the lawsuit, Plaintiffs’ first set of interrogatories left no doubt whatsoever that this action was intended to encompass hiring discrimination claims. Interrogatories 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18 and especially 29, all deal with hiring policies either in whole or in part. Consequently the Court sees no need to require Plaintiffs to amend the Complaint before allowing the new plaintiffs to enter this action.

Defendants’ objections as to the timeliness of this motion and the alleged delays which will result if this motion is granted are without merit. This litigation was still in the discovery phase at the time the motion was filed. Rule 21 “has been held to permit joinder of a party more than two years after commencement of the action, after trial, and even on appeal.” Gentry v. Smith, 487 F.2d 571, 580 (5th Cir. 1973) (footnote omitted). At this initial stage of the litigation the Court finds that no prejudice would result to the existing parties by allowing these two proposed plaintiffs to join this action. Gilbert, supra, 347 F.Supp. at 1059.

Furthermore, as noted above, the present Plaintiffs’ discovery requests already deal with Defendants’ hiring practices, so that the Court sees little reason for any delay in proceeding with this action. Probably the only really new discovery which need be done is the taking of the depositions of West and Childers.

Finally, the Court finds that the interests of judicial economy will be served by adding these two new plaintiffs — whether or not class certification is granted. Denying the proposed Plaintiffs an opportunity to proceed here would only result in the filing of a second, possibly duplicitous suit. This Court is duty bound to prevent that sort of duplication of effort which is a waste of judicial resources. Obviously, this motion is an attempt by the original Plaintiffs to bring named Plaintiffs with a hiring claim based on race and sex discrimination into this litigation. However, this is not an objectionable tactic. “Putative classes [and their members] are parties within the meaning of Rule 21.” DeMalherbe v. International Union of Elevator Constructors, 438 F.Supp. 1121, 1127 (N.D.Cal.1977).

For the reasons cited above, Plaintiffs’ motion to add Childers and West as Plaintiffs to this action is hereby GRANTED.

Rule 28 Motion

Plaintiffs have submitted a renewed motion for class certification pursuant to Rule 23(a) and (b)(2), Fed.R.Civ.P. The Court, by Order of September 28, 1981, denied Plaintiffs’ original motion for class certification because Plaintiffs had not satisfied the numerosity and typicality requirements of Rule 23(a)(1) and (3). The basis of the Court’s denial was simply the failure of Plaintiffs to provide information on those issues. Furthermore, the Court found that there was some confusion about the identity of the class Plaintiffs sought to represent.

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Bluebook (online)
95 F.R.D. 88, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13809, 29 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawkins-v-fulton-county-gand-1982.