Miller v. Hygrade Food Products, Corporation, Civil Action No. 99-1087 (E.D. Pa. 1/29/2001)
| Decision Date | 29 January 2001 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 99-1087. |
| Parties | JAMES C. MILLER, RALPH BROWN, VINCENT GREY, CHARLES KNIGHT, JERRY HEMINGWAY, BARRY C. JAMES and DWAYNE JACKSON, Plaintiffs, v. HYGRADE FOOD PRODUCTS, CORPORATION and SARA LEE CORPORATION, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Currently before the Court is the renewed motion of plaintiffs James C. Miller, Ralph Brown, Vincent Gray, Charles Knight, Michael Jones, Harold G. Williams, Jerry Hemingway, Barry C. James and Dwayne Jackson for class certification pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, (Document No. 53), the response by Hygrade Food Products Corporation ("Hygrade"), the reply, and the supplemental briefs thereto. This law suit arises out of claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981(a), and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, alleging race discrimination. Pursuant to Local Rule 7.1(f), this Court held oral argument on December 11, 2000. For the reasons set forth below, the motion will be denied.1
Sara Lee Corporation is the parent corporation of Hygrade which employs approximately 300 employees at its Philadelphia facility, approximately 58% of whom are minorities. Hygrade produces and packages hot dogs, bacon and ham at its Philadelphia facility. Nine current employees at Hygrade's Philadelphia facility initiated this lawsuit alleging that Hygrade has engaged in a continuous pattern and practice of race discrimination and racial harassment. Specifically, plaintiffs allege that Hygrade's employment decisions regarding discipline, termination, compensation, training, work assignment, hiring of temporary employees, and promotions are determined in a "highly subjective" manner at the hands of a "small, virtually entirely non-Black, central group of people." (Pls.' Mem. of Law in Support of Pls.' Renewed Mot. for Class Certification at 2.) Plaintiffs further allege that Hygrade "condon[es] and perpetuat[es]" a racially hostile work environment. (Id.) Plaintiffs describe discrimination against African-Americans in different job categories and in different forms. Many of the factual allegations describe situations in which African-American employees were treated differently than similarly situated white employees. Plaintiffs seek to represent a broad-based class of all African-Americans employed at or who were not hired for permanent employment from a temporary position at the Philadelphia facility from May 1, 1993 to June 1, 2000.
To be certified, a class must fulfill the prerequisites of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b). District Courts have broad discretion in determining whether to certify a class. See Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U.S. 330, 345, 99 S.Ct. 2326, 2334, 60 L.Ed.2d 931 (1979); Stewart v. Associates Consumer Disc. Co., 183 F.R.D. 189, 193 (E.D.Pa. 1998). The burden of establishing that these requisites have been met lies with the plaintiffs. See Nelson v. Astra Merck, Inc., No. Civ.A. 98-1283, 1998 WL 737982, at *1 (E.D.Pa. Oct. 22, 1998). The Court must refrain from inquiring into the merits of the claims. See Barnes v. American Tobacco Co., 161 F.3d 127, 140 (3d Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1114 (1999). Because Rule 23(b) serves as the basis for today's ruling, I will not address the issue of whether the proposed class meets the requirements of Rule 23(a).
Rule 23(b) allows classes to be maintained in one of three ways. Two sub parts are of relevance here. Rule 23(b)(2) allows certification where, "the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with respect to the class as a whole." Class actions certified under (b)(2) are restricted to those cases where the primary relief sought is injunctive or declaratory relief. See Barnes, 161 F.3d at 142-43.
Rule 23(b)(3) provides for certification where, "the court finds that the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy."2 This provision was designed for situations in which "class-action treatment is not as clearly called for" as it is in Rule 23(b)(1) and (b)(2) situations, but where class suit "may nevertheless be convenient and desirable." Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3) Advisory Notes to 1966 Amendment. While the actual language of Rule 23(b)(3) does not preclude certification where individual damages "run high," the Advisory Committee notes suggest that the drafters of (b)(3) primarily had in mind "vindication of the rights of groups of people who individually would be without effective strength to bring their opponents into court at all." Amchem Prod. Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 617, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 2246, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997).
Before the passage of the 1991 Civil Rights Act ("1991 Act"), most Title VII pattern and practice class actions which alleged intentional discrimination, such as the one presented here, were certified under Rule 23(b)(2) because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed for very little relief beyond injunctive and declaratory relief. See e.g., Wetzel v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 508 F.2d 239, 243 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 1011 (1975).3 Thus, proposed classes could easily meet the 23(b)(2) standard. Now that the 1991 Act has been enacted, Title VII class certification is much more debatable. See generally, Allison v. Citgo Petroleum Corp., 151 F.3d 402 (5th Cir. 1998)(calling into question general propriety of Title VII classes because of dramatic effects that 1991 Act has on Rule 23).4
Congress amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in two critical ways. First, the 1991 Act added the remedies of compensatory and punitive damages for suits alleging intentional discrimination. See id.; 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(a)(1). Compensatory damages include relief for "future pecuniary losses, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary losses." 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3). Punitive damages are allowed where the employer discriminates "with malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights of an aggrieved individual." 42 U.S.C. § 1981a (b)(1)(2). The 1991 Act caps damages at a maximum of $300,000 per plaintiff. See 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(c). Prior to these amendments, Title VII cases only allowed for back pay and other equitable remedies. These new remedies translate into a greater diversity and complexity of the issues to be adjudicated.
Second, under the 1991 Act, where compensatory or punitive damages are sought in an intentional discrimination suit, either party may demand a trial by jury. See 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(c)(1). Before the 1991 Act was passed, both the liability and the remedy phases were determined in bench trials. This amendment creates potential management concerns as well as Seventh Amendment problems.
As stated, in determining whether class certification is proper under Rule 23(b)(2), this Court must ask if the primary relief sought is injunctive or declaratory in nature. See Barnes, 161 F.3d at 142. Rule 23(b)(2) classes must be cohesive, particularly because unnamed members are bound by the decision with no opportunity to opt-out. See id. at 142-43. In other words, "disparate factual differences" can bar class certification. Id. at 142. Where a class suffers from a common injury and seeks class-wide relief, there is a presumption of cohesion, i.e., the sameness in the relief sought binds the class. See Allison, 151 F.3d at 413. In fact, this provision of the rule was specifically designed for civil rights actions seeking such broad relief for an "often unascertainable or amorphous class of persons." Barnes, 161 F.3d at 142. In contrast, where a class seeks monetary relief, the class becomes less cohesive because assessing these damages often necessitates an examination into individual claims. See Allison, 151 F.3d at 413 (citing Eubanks v. Billington, 110 F.3d 87, 95 (D.C. Cir. 1997)).
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has not established a test for determining when, if both injunctive and declaratory relief as well as monetary relief are sought, the former would be deemed the primary relief sought. Nor do the Rules of Civil Procedure offer any guidance. The Court in Allison, however, has created such a test, holding that "monetary relief predominates in (b)(2) class actions unless it is incidental to requested injunctive or declaratory relief." Allison, 151 F.3d at 415 (citing Williams v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., 665 F.2d 918, 928-29 (9th Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 971 (1982)). Incidental damages are those "that flow directly from liability to the class as a whole on the claims forming the basis of the injunctive or declaratory relief." Id. Three factors further define "incidental" damages. First, such damages should be of the kind to which class members would be automatically entitled. See id. Second, such damages should be computable by "objective standards," and not standards significantly reliant upon "the intangible, subjective differences of each class member's circumstances." Id. Third, such damages should not necessitate additional hearings. See id.
Persuaded by the soundness of the analysis, and the holdings of other courts which agree, I adopt that test here.5 See, Lemon v. International Union of Operating Eng'rs., 216 F.3d 577, 580-81 (7th Cir. 2000)(applying Allison test to proposed Title VII class); Adams v. Henderson, 197 F.R.D. 162, 2000 WL 1643980, at *9 (D.Md. 2000)(same); Robinson v. Metro-North...
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