Lichoff v. CSX Transportation, Inc.

218 F.R.D. 564, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20783, 2003 WL 22719193
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 28, 2003
DocketNo. 3:01 CV 7388
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 218 F.R.D. 564 (Lichoff v. CSX Transportation, 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
Lichoff v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 218 F.R.D. 564, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20783, 2003 WL 22719193 (N.D. Ohio 2003).

Opinion

ORDER

CARR, District Judge.

This is a fraud, estoppel, and breach of contract case. Plaintiffs Michael Lichoff and Robert Adams claim they were denied employment opportunities promised to them by the defendant, CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSX). This suit is brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1). Pending is plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. For the following reasons, plaintiffs’ motion shall be denied.

BACKGROUND

Defendant CSX, a railroad company, supports training programs at several colleges located throughout the eastern United States to train employees to operate defendant’s [567]*567freight trains. Plaintiffs claim that defendant engaged in a fraudulent scheme to recruit conductors to its training programs. Plaintiffs represent a putative class of individuals who attended and completed CSX-sponsored training programs and were later furloughed or unable to work the hours and earn the salaries that plaintiffs allege defendant promised during recruiting seminars.

Defendant worked with the colleges administering its training programs to develop materials for recruiting seminars. These materials, according to plaintiffs, promised job openings “at specific locations on specific dates,” with “substantial salaries” in order to induce prospective students to enroll in the training programs. (Doc. 33 at 2). In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendant’s recruiting materials “virtually guaranteed” placement in the promised job opening upon successful completion of the college’s training program. (Id.)

Plaintiffs claim that defendant’s promises were false, because plaintiffs were furloughed shortly .after being hired and were unable to earn as much money as defendant promised.

A. Training Program Recruiting Seminars

Plaintiffs’ allegations primarily arise from information given by presenters at recruiting seminars designed to persuade potential students to enroll in the conductor training programs. Nine colleges in sixteen states presented the programs. They and the defendant developed the recruiting materials. The presenters were usually representatives of the colleges, though defendant sometimes had representatives at the seminars.

Plaintiffs allege that presenters at the recruiting seminars promised that defendant had current openings at locations throughout its system, which operates in twenty-three states, the District of Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. Although the record contains some inconsistencies, apparently presenters represented to potential students that CSX train service employees made a base salary of approximately $30,000 to $40,000, with the potential to earn $50,000 to $80,000 shortly thereafter. According to the plaintiffs, recruiters also told prospective trainees that individuals willing to work long hours could expect to earn upwards of $100,000.

To obtain the jobs, plaintiffs were instructed to enroll in the conductor training program. They allege they were told that only those individuals who falsified information would not receive jobs after completing the program. Plaintiffs also claim that, at the conclusion of each seminar, presenters stated that acceptance into the program confirmed an open position at a specific CSX location that would be held for the trainee. Plaintiffs allege that the various presentations at different colleges in the several states where the programs were offered essentially were uniform in content.

Defendant counters that it did not guarantee jobs for students who enrolled in the colleges’ training programs, though it did work with the colleges to project its need for new employees. Defendant admits that the colleges attempted to admit a limited number of students into the training programs to match defendant’s hiring needs with the number of program graduates. Prospective students were told at the recruiting seminars that they would only be admitted into the training program if CSX had a projected opening available in that student’s selected area.

Defendant points out that the colleges told prospective students that they were not legally guaranteed a job. Moreover, prospective students at Clayton College & State University, the first college to offer the training program, apparently were shown and asked to sign a form that stated, among other things, “My employer will have the right to temporarily reassign or furlough me if I do not have the seniority to hold a position where I am assigned.” (Doc. 78 at 10). It appears that other colleges also attempted to inform students, whether in writing or during the course of the oral recruitment presentation, that they could [568]*568potentially be furloughed or asked to relocate. It appears, however, that some colleges did more to explain this possibility than others and that individuals in attendance at the different colleges’ presentations went away with unique understandings of the possibility that they could be furloughed or that the work available to them would be limited.

Despite this evidence about notice about the risk of furlough and lay-off, the named plaintiffs contend that they plaintiffs and many others were not informed about that possibility. Plaintiffs assert that the colleges’ presentations were essentially uniform and that the possibility of furlough was either not mentioned at all or was heavily played down in order to convince recruits to enroll. Plaintiffs admit that prospective students were told that the college could not legally guarantee them jobs, but allege that

[RJecruits were consistently told that 95% to 99% of those students successfully completing the program were hired by CSX ... Any who participated in the program and were denied employment missed that opportunity not based on the subjective determination of the railroad, but because of a failure to meet criteria set by CSX

(Doc. 33 at 22).

B. The Training Programs

Each of the plaintiffs and proposed class members paid approximately $4,000 to enroll in a CSX training program at one of the colleges offering the program. Several of them claim to have foregone other employment opportunities or resigned from other jobs to complete the training. During the training program, according to the plaintiffs, they received identical written “offers of employment” confirming that each would be employed by defendant if they satisfactorily completed the program, passed several physical tests, and truthfully provided all information required in the application. Plaintiffs and proposed class members signed these offers and completed all of the training requirements.

C. Plaintiffs’ Employment after Completing the Training Programs

Following the training program, plaintiffs and the proposed class members completed a field training course and several shifts as “conductor-trainees.” Immediately or shortly thereafter, they were furloughed, sometimes without working a single shift. Both named plaintiffs endured long periods of furlough, followed by shorter periods during which they worked. The named plaintiffs allege that neither has earned the amount of money nor had the opportunity to work as many shifts as CSX and the colleges promised. Plaintiffs submit statements from other CSX train service employees confirming that many of the trainee/employees have been furloughed in the past several years.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
218 F.R.D. 564, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20783, 2003 WL 22719193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lichoff-v-csx-transportation-inc-ohnd-2003.