Nash v. City of Oakwood

94 F.R.D. 83, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 808, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11802
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedMarch 25, 1982
DocketNo. C-3-80-375
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 94 F.R.D. 83 (Nash v. City of Oakwood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nash v. City of Oakwood, 94 F.R.D. 83, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 808, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11802 (S.D. Ohio 1982).

Opinion

DECISION AND ENTRY SUSTAINING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY CLASS CERTIFICATION; DECISION AND ENTRY OVERRULING MOTION OF RAYMOND JORDAN, SEEKING RECONSIDERATION OF EARLIER DECISION DENYING HIM LEAVE TO INTERVENE

RICE, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court pursuant to the Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Class Certification under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(c)(1) (Doc. # 12), and upon the Motion of Raymond Jordan, for reconsideration of his motion to intervene as a party plaintiff. (Doc. # 37). For reasons which will later be articulated, the Court has concluded that the motion for class certification can be granted in part, but the motion to intervene must be denied.

On September 12, 1980, Plaintiff Victoria Nash commenced the present action, alleging that the Defendant, the City of Oak-wood, Ohio, had committed discriminatory employment practices in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and, the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3766(c)(1). Specifically, Plaintiff, a black female, alleged that on September 6, 1980, she had taken written and physical examinations for a public safety position with the City of Oakwood, but had been rejected for employment because she failed to successfully complete part (e) of the City’s physical agility test, which required an applicant to carry two rolled fire hoses, each weighing seventy-eight pounds, up and down four flights of stairs and across 100 feet of level ground. Plaintiff further alleged that the agility test discriminated against women on the basis of sex, because, inter alia, it was unrelated to job performance, and employed arbitrary criteria which invidiously discriminated against females. In addition, Plaintiff contended in the Complaint that the City of Oakwood discriminated on the basis of race because, inter alia, it had no black residents, had never recruited in the black community, and employed tests which had a barring effect on blacks and other minority applicants. Based on these allegations, Plaintiff sought to represent a class described as:

[A]ll blacks and women who have applied for the position of public safety [officer] with Defendant and all blacks and women who might have been employed by Defendant but for its reputation for engaging in discriminatory practices, and who have been and continue to be or might be adversely affected by the practices [of Defendant].

Complaint, ¶ 7.

On December 12, 1980, Plaintiff filed a motion for class certification, contending that the present action constituted a proper class action under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a) and (b)(2). Prior to the disposition of that motion, however, Raymond Jordan, a black male who had applied for a position as a public safety officer with the City of Oak-wood, filed a motion to intervene as party plaintiff. In a decision filed June 30, 1981, and reported as Nash v. City of Oakwood, Ohio, 90 F.R.D. 633 (S.D.Ohio 1981) (Nash), this Court overruled Jordan’s motion to intervene, based on the fact that Nash’s Complaint failed to set forth facts sufficient to support a claim for racial discrimination. See, id. at 637. The Court did, however, indicate that Jordan’s motion could be renewed, “if and when Plaintiff has amended [85]*85her Complaint to cure this defect.” Id. at 637-638. In accordance with the Court’s suggestion, Plaintiff did file an Amended Complaint, on July 14, 1981, in which she attempted to remedy the deficiencies which had been noted by the Court. In addition, on September 24, 1981, Jordan filed a Motion for Reconsideration to Intervene as Party Plaintiff. Finally, on January 21, and 26, 1982, oral hearings were held, at which time Plaintiff and Jordan were permitted to present testimony relative to the class certification and intervention issues. With this procedural background in mind, the Court now turns to consideration of the issues raised by Plaintiff’s request for preliminary class certification, and by Jordan’s motion to intervene.

II. MAINTENANCE OF THIS ACTION AS A CLASS ACTION

As was previously noted, in her original Complaint, Plaintiff sought relief on behalf of a class consisting of all blacks and women who have applied for the position of public safety officer with Defendant, or who might have applied but for Defendant’s discriminatory practices. In the earlier discussion referred to above, this Court limited the permissible scope of discovery to those matters pertinent to Plaintiff’s sexual discrimination claims, and- to the extent possible, to the determination of whether this cause might be maintained as a class action. Nash, supra, 90 F.R.D. at 636. In establishing these restrictions, the Court relied on the absence of a cognizable racial claim in the Complaint, and noted specifically that:

[P]laintiff is entitled to no discovery from defendant on her claim of racial discrimination. The Complaint is devoid of any factual allegations indicating that defendant discriminated against plaintiff on the basis of race as opposed to sex... .
The Court does not discount the possibility that plaintiff can cure the defect in her complaint by amending same to set forth some facts regarding the racial discrimination which she feels that she, herself, suffered in connection with her application with defendant for the position of public safety officer. However, the Court will not, on the basis of the present complaint, permit plaintiff to bootstrap a claim of racial discrimination solely by virtue of the fact that she is black.

Id. at 635-636 (emphasis added).

In the Amended Complaint filed on June 14, 1981, Plaintiff attempted to cure the defect by alleging, in paragraph 17, that “Plaintiff and all minority P.S.O. applicants have received either unacceptable written test scores and interview ratings, or scored below white applicants placed on eligibility hiring lists.”

The materials presently before the Court indicate, without dispute, that Plaintiff Nash did pass the written examination given by the City of Oakwood, with a score of 85 (Thompson deposition, p. 100), but failed the physical agility examination (Amended Complaint, ¶ 14); Answer to Amended Complaint, ¶9). The undisputed facts further indicate that if an applicant failed any portion of the physical agility test, he would be disqualified, and would be precluded from consideration for employment as a public safety officer (Thompson deposition, p. 87; Amended Complaint, ¶ 14; Answer to Amended Complaint, ¶ 9). Moreover, the eligibility hiring list is compiled based on those persons who have successfully completed each portion of the examination (Thompson deposition, pp. 45-46).

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Bluebook (online)
94 F.R.D. 83, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 808, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nash-v-city-of-oakwood-ohsd-1982.