Pinkard v. Pullman-Standard, a Div. of Pullman, Inc.

Decision Date10 June 1982
Docket NumberA,No. 79-2890,PULLMAN-STANDAR,79-2890
Citation678 F.2d 1211
Parties29 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 216, 29 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,862 Louis PINKARD, Edward Lofton, Richard Holston and Donnie Sealie, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v.DIVISION OF PULLMAN, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellee. . Unit B *
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Elaine R. Jones, Barry L. Goldstein, Washington, D. C., for Pinkard & lofton.

Thomas, Taliaferro, Forman, Burr & Murray, C. V. Stelzenmuller, Birmingham, Ala., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Before KRAVITCH and THOMAS A. CLARK, Circuit Judges, and LYNNE, ** District Judge.

PER CURIAM:

I.

The four plaintiffs-appellants in this case-Louis Pinkard, Edward Lofton, Richard Holston, and Donnie Sealie-appeal from a judgment entered in favor of defendant-appellee Pullman-Standard, a division of Pullman, Inc., after a bench trial below. They present a number of issues for our review. Because no two members of this panel agree upon all of the issues, we preface the separate opinions with this summary of our positions to explain the disposition of the appeal.

All four plaintiffs, former employees of defendant, brought suit claiming defendant discharged them because of their race. In addition, plaintiffs Pinkard and Lofton claimed they were discharged because they opposed racially discriminatory practices of defendant. The suit ripened as one with the four claims of racially-based discharge presented under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2 and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The claims of retaliatory discharge made by Pinkard and Lofton were presented under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3 and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. 1 Plaintiffs sought to bring the suit as a class action, but the district court denied certification. After a trial on the merits, the court entered a memorandum opinion and granted defendant judgment as to each of the claims.

Most of the issues presented provoke no dissent among us. We are in agreement that the district court properly denied class certification. In addition, we agree that the judgment is to be affirmed as to plaintiffs Holston and Sealie. We also agree that the judgment is to be affirmed as to the § 1981 claims of racially-based discharge made by plaintiffs Pinkard and Lofton.

We part ways only with respect to the Title VII claims of Pinkard and Lofton and Pinkard's § 1981 claim of retaliatory discharge. Even as to the latter, our dispute is narrow. Furthermore, all agree that the judgment is to be affirmed as to Lofton's § 1981 claim of retaliatory discharge. Judge Kravitch and Judge Clark, however, with Judge Lynne dissenting, find that the district court erred in granting defendant judgment as to Pinkard's § 1981 retaliatory discharge claim. Accordingly, the judgment must be reversed as to that one claim. This is the only aspect of the judgment to be reversed.

Our positions as to the Title VII claims of Pinkard and Lofton are somewhat more involved. Pinkard and Lofton had not received the requisite right-to-sue notices from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the time they filed suit under Title VII; subsequently, they did receive notices. Judge Kravitch and Judge Lynne conclude, over Judge Clark's dissent, that the notices Pinkard and Lofton received satisfied the right-to-sue notice requirement and consequently that the Title VII claims of Pinkard and Lofton were properly before the district court, which thought it had no jurisdiction over these claims but proceeded to consider them "out of an excess of caution." Judge Lynne would affirm the district court's disposition of both Lofton's and Pinkard's Title VII claims. Judge Kravitch, however, would affirm as to Lofton's Title VII claims and Pinkard's claim under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, but would reverse as to Pinkard's claim under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3. Because of Judge Lynne's position and Judge Clark's view that the claims were not properly before the district court, the judgment must be affirmed as to the Title VII claims of Pinkard and Lofton.

In accordance with the foregoing summary, we reverse the judgment as to Pinkard's § 1981 claim of retaliatory discharge and remand for a determination of damages. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed.

II. Class Action Denial

Louis Pinkard and Edward Lofton filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e on February 17, 1976, prior to receipt of right-to-sue letters from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Plaintiffs moved to add Richard Holston as a party plaintiff shortly after February 19, 1976, when Holston was notified by the EEOC of his right to sue. Like Pinkard and Lofton, Holston alleged in his EEOC complaint that Pullman discriminatorily discharged him because of his race. On July 28, 1976, Pinkard and Lofton moved to add Donnie Sealie as a party plaintiff, and the court granted the motion on August 11, 1976. Sealie had originally filed an employment discrimination charge against Pullman-Standard on May 6, 1975, alleging that he had been discharged because of his race. The Birmingham District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued Sealie a right-to-sue letter on June 15, 1976. On August 18, 1978, prior to the pretrial hearing in the case, the EEOC issued Pinkard and Lofton notice of their right to sue the company. 2

On October 12, 1978, plaintiffs proceeded with a Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 class certification hearing in district court. Plaintiffs sought to certify "a class of all black employees of defendant company who were discharged ... within 180 days prior to the earliest filing with the EEOC of a charge of discrimination by any of the four named plaintiffs." The court refused to certify the class on the ground that the plaintiffs failed to carry their burden of proving "typicality of claims," as required under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(3). 3

It is well settled that, where a case requires detailed investigations of the circumstances surrounding the claims of individual class members, that case does not lend itself to treatment as a class action. Reddix v. Lucky, 252 F.2d 930 (5th Cir. 1958). Similarly, this court recently refused to reverse a district court which had denied class certification in Crawford v. Western Electric Co., Inc., 614 F.2d 1300 (5th Cir. 1980), stating that:

The fact that plaintiffs are members of the same race as other employees and rejected job applicants whom they seek to represent in a class action is not enough in itself to require a finding under Rule 23 that their representation was adequate or that their claims were typical of the class.

Id. at 1304.

In the instant case the four named plaintiffs bring forward claims which are factually distinct. Consequently, we affirm the district court's finding that plaintiffs failed to meet the procedural requirements justifying class certification. The district court properly distinguished the Fifth Circuit decision, Hebert v. Monsanto Company, Texas City, Texas, 576 F.2d 77 (5th Cir. 1978), that plaintiffs cited as contrary to the Reddix "typicality" test. Although this court in Hebert reasoned that, "(i)f class actions were limited to factual typicality, class actions under Title VII would be impossible because, except in rare cases, the facts would not be identical," the court's decision to certify that class was based additionally upon the fact that plaintiffs had produced substantial statistical evidence of company-wide discriminatory policies. The trial court properly focused upon this distinction, concluding that "the (Hebert ) decision is clearly hung on the breadth of the defendant's policies involved there and the wide scope of the statistical evidence ... pertinent to show these policies." Record Excerpts, at 13. Consequently, we agree that Hebert does not provide a sufficient justification upon which to confer "typicality" in the face of the significant factual dissimilarities of plaintiffs' claims. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of class certification.

III. Title VII

A. Jurisdiction

1. Circuit Judge KRAVITCH with District Judge LYNNE, concurring.

Appellants Pinkard and Lofton filed charges with the EEOC on February 13, 1976 and commenced this civil action four days later. Neither party had received a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC at that time. They did, however, receive right-to-sue letters on August 18, 1978, prior to the pretrial order and approximately four months before trial. Nevertheless, on June 29, 1979, seven months after the trial, the district court dismissed Pinkard's and Lofton's Title VII claims, holding in its memorandum opinion that it lacked jurisdiction over the claims because the appellants failed to await the issuance of their right-to-sue letters before filing suit. We hold that receipt of a right-to-sue letter is a condition precedent to a Title VII claim rather than a jurisdictional prerequisite, and that here receipt of the letters by appellants prior to dismissal of their Title VII claims cured their failure to initially satisfy the condition precedent. Accordingly, we reverse the district court.

Before instituting a Title VII action in federal district court, a private plaintiff must file an EEOC complaint against the discriminating party within 180 days of the alleged discrimination and receive statutory notice of the right to sue the respondent named in the charge. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1); Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 47, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 1019, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974); Nilsen v. City of Moss Point, Mississippi, 621 F.2d 117 (5th Cir. 1980). 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1) states in pertinent part:

If a charge filed with the Commission pursuant to subsection (b) of this section is dismissed by the Commission, or if within one hundred and eighty days from the filing of such charge or the expiration of any period of reference under subsection (c) or (d) of this section, whichever is later, the Commission...

To continue reading

Request your trial
176 cases
  • Marrero-Rivera v. Dept. of Justice
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico
    • July 23, 1992
    ... ... Methodist Youth Services, Inc., 511 F.Supp. 307 (N.D.Ill.1981) ...         To ... Transfer Corp., 690 F.2d 1091 (4th Cir.1982); Pinkard v. Pullman-Standard, Div. of Pullman, Inc., 678 F.2d 1211 ... ...
  • Irby v. Sullivan, 82-1566
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • August 6, 1984
    ... ... Mississippi Extended Care Centers, Inc., 718 F.2d 1381, 1385 (5th Cir.1983); Williams v ... 52(a). Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 287-88, 102 S.Ct. 1781, 1789, 72 ... Oil Co., 678 F.2d 593, 598 (5th Cir.1982); Pinkard v. Pullman-Standard, A Division of Pullman, Inc., 678 F.2d ... ...
  • McGinnis v. Ingram Equipment Co., Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit
    • November 27, 1990
    ... ... Shuler, 777 F.2d 1431, 1433 (11th Cir.1985); Pinkard v. Pullman-Standard, 678 F.2d 1211, 1224 (5th Cir. Unit B 1982), reh'g ... ...
  • Minor v. Northville Public Schools
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan
    • March 28, 1985
    ... ... However, in Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 932, 102 S.Ct. 1417, 71 L.Ed.2d 643 (1982), the ... Pinkard v. Pullman-Standard, 678 F.2d 1211, 1215 (5th Cir., Unit ... ...
  • Request a trial to view additional results
3 books & journal articles

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT