Levels v. Akzo Nobel Salt, Inc.

178 F.R.D. 171, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1573, 1998 WL 59346
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJanuary 7, 1998
DocketNo. 1:96-CV-1962
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 178 F.R.D. 171 (Levels v. Akzo Nobel Salt, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Levels v. Akzo Nobel Salt, Inc., 178 F.R.D. 171, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1573, 1998 WL 59346 (N.D. Ohio 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

GWIN, District Judge.

On February 25, 1997, Plaintiffs moved this Court to maintain and certify this case as a class action [Doc. 37].1 The Court denies the motion for the reasons that follow.

I

On September 9, 1996, Plaintiffs, seven African-American employees of the Defendant AKZO Nobel filed a class action complaint against AKZO Nobel. Plaintiffs make claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq.

Plaintiffs allege that AKZO’s supervisory employees create a hostile work environment for African-Americans by subjecting them to discriminatory workplace treatment and by actively participating in, or ignoring, various incidents of racism.2

The Plaintiffs are James R. Levels, L.J. Flowers, James Mays, Larry Taylor, Herman Coats, and Nathaniel Coats. Plaintiff Levels further claims Defendant AKZO Nobel retaliated against him for his filing of an EEOC charge concerning these matters. Plaintiffs seek to have this action certified as a class action as to Counts One (Hostile Work Environment) and Three (Intentional Discrimination) of the Complaint.

Defendant AKZO Nobel owned and operated a salt mine in Cleveland, Ohio.3 The mine extends underground from Cleveland for miles through tunnels, many under Lake Erie. Defendant AKZO Nobel employed about 210 hourly employees at the Cleveland mine. Of the 210 hourly employees, 31 were African-Americans. All hourly employees were production and maintenance employees and were represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.4

Approximately 59 bargaining unit employees, including 11 African-Americans, worked on the surface under one set of supervisors. The remaining hourly employees, including 20 African-Americans, worked in mine production and maintenance responsibilities under a different set of supervisors.

During fall and winter, Defendant AKZO Nobel employed seasonal laborers in entry level production jobs. In the Winter of 1997, there were 12 seasonal employees. These seasonal employees worked on the surface of the mine.

Plaintiffs are seven African-American male former employees of AKZO Nobel’s Cleveland facility. All seven were regular frill-time production employees represented by the Teamsters and are bargaining unit members. Plaintiff Levels is an electrician and is the only Plaintiff who worked in the mine. The remaining six Plaintiffs were principally surface employees. The Plaintiffs were employed in top rate classifications and most had more than 20 years of seniority.

Plaintiffs’ Complaint says they had been subject to written and verbal racial slurs while employed at Defendant AKZO Nobel. [174]*174They seek equitable damages and compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.

Plaintiffs request class certification as to Counts One (Hostile Work Environment, Title VII) and Three (Intentional Discrimination, Section 1981) of their Amended Class Action Complaint. Count Three is limited to the same hostile work environment allegations as Count One.

Only two Plaintiffs, Mr. Levels and Mr. Taylor, filed charges with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (“OCRC”), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) or any other administrative agency.5

Plaintiff Levels also alleges that Defendant AKZO Nobel retaliated against him for filing an EEOC charge. Plaintiff Levels’ EEOC charge alleged only harassment. Neither Mr. Levels’ EEOC charge nor the Complaint allege race-based discrimination in connection with hiring.

Plaintiffs seek to represent a class of African-Americans that includes any future and seasonal employees, although none of the Plaintiffs are either future or seasonal employees.

Title VII is violated when the workplace is permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment: Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993); Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). Under Harris, conduct that is merely offensive cannot support an action while conduct need not cause a tangible psychological injury to support an action. Title VII bars conduct that would reasonably be perceived, and is perceived, as hostile or abusive.

II

Plaintiffs seek certification of this action as a class action.6 Rule 23(a) establishes four prerequisites to class certification: the class must be so numerous that “joinder of all members is impracticable;” there must be [175]*175“questions of law or fact common to the class;” the claims of the representative party-must be “typical” of those of the class; and the representative party must “fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.” The commonality, typicality, and adequacy-of-representation requirements are related. Each forces the judge to consider whether the claims of the named plaintiff are sufficiently similar to the claims of the absent class members to make the plaintiff an adequate representative of the class’s interests. See Note, Certifying Classes and Subclasses in Title VII Suits, 99 Harv. L.Rev. 619 (1986).

The Supreme Court requires district courts to conduct a “rigorous analysis” into whether the prerequisites of Rule 23 are met before certifying a class. General Tel. Co. of Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 161, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 2372-73, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982); In re American Medical Systems, Inc., 75 F.3d 1069, 1078-79 (6th Cir.1996). Kutschbach v. Davies, 885 F.Supp. 1079 (S.D.Ohio, 1995)(proposed class representative must establish that all requirements for certification of class are satisfied with respect to putative class for certification to be proper.); Senter v. General Motors Corp., 532 F.2d 511 (6th Cir.1976).

An individual litigant seeking to maintain a class action under Title VII must meet “the prerequisites of numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation” specified in Rule 23(a). General Tel. Co. of the Northwest v. EEOC, 446 U.S. 318, 330, 100 S.Ct. 1698, 1706, 64 L.Ed.2d 319 (1980).

Ill

Rule 23(a)(1) provides that a class action may be maintained only if “the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” Rule 23’s numerosity requirement requires examination of the specific facts of each case and imposes no absolute limitations. Id. In In re American Medical Systems, Inc.,

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Bluebook (online)
178 F.R.D. 171, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1573, 1998 WL 59346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levels-v-akzo-nobel-salt-inc-ohnd-1998.