Thomas County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. City of Thomasville School District

187 F.R.D. 690, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15987, 1999 WL 636342
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedAugust 4, 1999
DocketNo. 6:98-CV-63(WLS)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 187 F.R.D. 690 (Thomas County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. City of Thomasville School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. City of Thomasville School District, 187 F.R.D. 690, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15987, 1999 WL 636342 (M.D. Ga. 1999).

Opinion

ORDER TO CONDITIONALLY CERTIFY CLASS

SANDS, District Judge.

Presently before the Court in the above-entitled action is the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification pursuant to Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. After careful consideration of the record, the parties’ respective arguments concerning the applicable law, and for the reasons discussed herein, the Court holds that the plaintiffs’ motion should be granted, in part, and a class should be conditionally certified which may permit further discovery to proceed.

BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiffs are the Thomas County Branch of the NAACP and parents of students enrolled in the Defendant Thomasville City School District (“the District”). Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the District for allegedly violating the students’ federal constitutional and statutory rights by establishing, preserving, and perpetuating a racially segregated and unequal education system. Plaintiffs allege that the District presently enforces policies and practices which segregate black students from white students and systematically afford the latter relatively superior instructional re[693]*693sources in its six “regular” schools and two “specialized” schools. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 19-21.1 Plaintiffs have pled several categories of alleged race discrimination by the District, namely: Segregation and inequality in the elementary schools, ¶¶ 20-25; segregation and inequality in the middle school, ¶¶ 26-30; segregation and inequality at the high school, ¶¶ 31-36; racial segregation of the District’s gifted programs, ¶¶ 38-40; racial segregation of the District’s special education programs, ¶¶ 41-43; racial segregation in student activities and awards, ¶¶ 44-46; and segregation and inequality in student discipline, ¶¶ 48-50. Plaintiffs seek entry of a permanent injunction which “requires the District to disestablish, in all respects, the racially segregated and unequal school system that exists in the City of Thomasville School District,” and which specifically mandates that the District desegregate its buildings and facilities, instructional resources and materials, “discriminatory implementation of existing disciplinary provisions,” and all student activities. Am. Compl. at 25, Prayer for Relief ¶ 4.

On April 9, 1999, the plaintiffs filed the instant motion for class certification. Shortly thereafter, on April 30, 1999, the plaintiffs filed a motion for leave to amend their complaint. Plaintiffs sought to amend their complaint to remove three individuals as parties and add three individuals to take their place as class representatives.2 At the hearing held on May 14, 1999, the defendant stated that it had no objection to the plaintiffs’ motion to amend. After review of the motion and proffered amendments, and noting the absence of any objection by the defendant, the Court granted the plaintiffs’ motion. Accordingly, the Court has considered the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in light of the amendments adding new parties, including the declarations filed by each of the new plaintiffs.

DISCUSSION

I Plaintiffs’ Standing to Sue

At the outset of its response to the plaintiffs’ motion, the District has challenged the standing of each of the individual plaintiffs in this case. The District contends that none of the plaintiffs can demonstrate that his or her child has suffered any injury because of any allegedly racially discriminatory policies and practices enforced by the District.

Article III of the Constitution requires that a plaintiff “must allege personal injury fairly traceable to the defendant’s allegedly unlawful conduct and likely to be redressed by the requested relief’ in order to invoke the exercise of federal jurisdiction. Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 751, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984). Article III bars a federal court from asserting jurisdiction over an action in which a litigant has raised another person’s legal rights because the relief designed to redress the alleged unlawful conduct would not properly lie with that litigant; by its judgment, the federal court would resolve a would-be plaintiffs claim, rather than an actual case or controversy as the Constitution demands. As a threshold matter, a plaintiff seeking to invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court to resolve his or her case must allege that the defendant’s conduct has, in fact, caused a “distinct and palpable” injury to him or her. Id. (citations and quotations omitted).

Apart from the allegations in the complaint, the District contends that the plaintiffs’ own testimony shows that none has standing to recover for any claims of unlawful race discrimination by the District in the education of his or her child. The District has proffered excerpts of testimony, such as the following from Shernika Holton (“Holton”):

Q. Has [your daughter] had any problems since she’s been enrolled in Scott [Ele[694]*694mentary, the allegedly identifiably black school]?

A. No.

Q. And based on your contacts with your contacts with Ms. Parks [Courtney’s teacher], are you satisfied with her as a teacher? Do you not like her as a teacher, or what are your feelings?

A. I’m satisfied.

Def.’s Br. Opp. Pls.’ Mot. Class Cert. (“Def.’s Br. Opp.”) at 8.

In response, each of the individual plaintiffs insists that he or she has suffered a distinct and palpable injury that entitles them to recover injunctive relief to mandate that their own children receive educational benefits equal to white students in the District. Plaintiffs direct the Court to consider other testimony by each of the individual parents which shows the particular forms in which the District has deprived his or her child of certain instructional resources by enforcing one or more of its policies or practices. Pls.’ Reply at 3-8. Holton, for instance, directs the Court to consider other portions of her testimony which she contends show that she does, in fact, have standing due to the District’s enforcement of policies which have denied her choice to enroll her daughter in Jerger Elementary School, which is closer to her home and work. Holton Dep. at 15.

Similarly, Spencer Wilson (“Wilson”) contends that he has standing in this case because “his children have been victimized by segregated classrooms and low levels of academic instruction,” as well as experience of the District’s attempt to refer his daughter to a special education program. Pis.’ Reply, citing Wilson Dep. at 39-42, 44, and 51. Wilson has also testified about his experience in being rebuffed when he inquired about enrolling his children in Jerger. Wilson Dep. at 73-74.

Plaintiff Mary Hill (“Hill”) has testified that she enrolled her son at Jerger school, yet received the distinct impression that his teacher did not appreciate her son in his class. Hill has explained that the teacher would ignore her and her son, and would often discipline her son by pulling him out of class and sending him to the principal’s office when he “would talk or do anything that childrens [sic] his age would do.” Hill Dep. at 23.

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187 F.R.D. 690, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15987, 1999 WL 636342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-county-branch-of-the-national-association-for-the-advancement-of-gamd-1999.