Murry v. American Standard, Inc.
Decision Date | 14 December 1973 |
Docket Number | No. 73-1756 Summary Calendar.,73-1756 Summary Calendar. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Parties | Louis J. MURRY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. AMERICAN STANDARD, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellants. AMERICAN STANDARD, INC., et al., Petitioners, v. Honorable Frederick J. R. HEEBE, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, New Orleans Division, Respondent. |
Andrew P. Carter, David E. Walker, H. Sloan McCloskey, Jerry Gardner, Jr., New Orleans, La., for defendants-appellants.
Richard B. Sobol, David J. Dennis, New Orleans, La., George Cooper, New York City, Frederick J. R. Heebe, New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before BELL, GODBOLD and GEE, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from an order of the District Court granting a preliminary injunction requiring appellant American Standard, Inc., to reinstate as an employee Cornell Hood, one of the plaintiffs in this Title VII class action.
Appellant's primary argument is that absent imminent irreparable injury, which it views as necessary to exercise of a trial court's inherent equitable authority to issue preliminary injunctions, a private individual may not obtain a preliminary injunction in an action premised on Title VII. In its view such an injunction may issue only in an action brought by the Attorney-General. This proposition finds no support in our cases.
Title VII explicitly provides:
If the court finds that the respondent has intentionally engaged in or is intentionally engaging in an unlawful employment practice charged in the complaint, the court may enjoin the respondent from engaging in such unlawful employment practice, and order such affirmative action as may be appropriate, which may include reinstatement or hiring of employees, with or without back pay . . . .
42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-5(g). In Culpepper v. Reynolds Metals Company, 421 F.2d 888 (CA5 1970), a case which like this one involved the issuance of a temporary injunction requested by a private individual in a Title VII suit, this court interpreted the statutory language set forth above:
The language in § 2000e-5(g) "if the court finds" does not mean only that if the court finds upon a full hearing on the merits. It can also mean if the court finds upon a hearing on the issue of a temporary injunction, the court may temporarily enjoin the employer and grant temporary affirmative relief.
421 F.2d at 894. Culpepper clearly indicates that a private individual may rightly claim a statutory basis for obtaining a preliminary a preliminary injunction in a Title VII suit.
In short, Culpepper determined that Title VII authorizes granting a preliminary injunction requested by a private person. Hayes International and Culpepper determined that where such statutory authorization exists irreparable injury need not be shown.2 The District Court had adequate authority under the statute to issue the injunction attacked here. Additionally, the unavailability to individual plaintiffs of preliminary relief while the action proceeds would limit the utility of private class actions as a...
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