Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 75-4219

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
Citation576 F.2d 1157
Docket NumberNo. 75-4219,75-4219
Parties17 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1712, 17 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 8470 Rush PETTWAY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. AMERICAN CAST IRON PIPE COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
Decision Date24 July 1978

Robert L. Wiggins, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Margaret C. Poles, Lutz A. Prager, E.E.O.C., Washington, D. C., amicus curiae, for plaintiffs-appellants.

James R. Forman, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., for defendant-appellee.

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

Before GOLDBERG, AINSWORTH and FAY, Circuit Judges.

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

This complex class action employment discrimination suit, now before us for the fourth time, illustrates the difficulties inherent in judicial efforts to remedy violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., by undoing the effects of past racial discrimination in employment. Complaints alleging racial discrimination in employment were first filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on November 22, 1965. 1 Suit was brought on May 13, 1966 under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and the class was certified pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2).

The complaint was dismissed by the district court on March 10, 1967 on the ground that the EEOC had failed to attempt conciliation prior to initiation of the court action. On appeal with several other actions, we reversed. Dent v. St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co., 406 F.2d 399 (5th Cir. 1969). During the pendency of that first appeal, the defendant, American Cast Iron Pipe Company (hereinafter "ACIPCO") discharged one of the named plaintiffs. That plaintiff then sought and was denied relief in the district court. We again reversed, directing reinstatement and back pay. Pettway and Wrenn v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 411 F.2d 998 (5th Cir. 1969).

The district court then addressed itself to the plaintiffs' substantive charges. In 1970 the court examined the racial composition of the Board of Operatives, an advisory board composed of non-supervisory personnel elected by employees of the company. In 1922 the founder of ACIPCO, John J. Eagan, had bequeathed all the outstanding common stock of the company to the members of Board of Operatives and the Board of Management, a body composed of corporate officials elected by the Board of Directors to conduct the day to day business of the company, and their successors in office. The Boards acted as trustees for the benefit of the present and future employees of the company. From 1922 until January, 1970 the membership of the Board of Operatives was explicitly limited to "white" employees. Blacks were relegated to the Auxiliary Board, which was created to advise the other two boards on matters affecting the interests of black employees. Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 494 F.2d 211 (5th Cir. 1974). In 1970 the district court ordered the integration of the The employee discrimination charges were tried in October 1971. The district court found that certain testing conducted by the company had an adverse impact on the employment opportunities of black employees and did not pass muster under Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 91 S.Ct. 849, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). Nevertheless, the court denied all requested relief except attorneys' fees and costs. On appeal, we again reversed the district court, and to guide the court on remand, we examined the governing law in a lengthy and detailed opinion. We instructed the court to order back pay to compensate class members for wages lost due to past discrimination and to formulate injunctive relief particularized to the circumstances of the case but as broad in scope as necessary to ensure black employees the opportunity to reach positions in the company previously denied to them by discriminatory practices. Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 494 F.2d 211 (5th Cir. 1974) (hereinafter cited as "Pettway III ").

Board of Operatives and the abolition of the all-black Auxiliary Board. Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 332 F.Supp. 811 (N.D.Ala.1970), aff'd 494 F.2d 211, 264-67 (5th Cir. 1974).

On remand the district court encouraged the litigants to engage in settlement negotiations directed toward the fashioning of a decree to carry out the mandate of Pettway III. The district judge played an active role in the extensive negotiations which followed. It remains unclear precisely what was resolved during these negotiations. In any event, on May 14, 1975 the court, over the plaintiffs' objections, issued a decree ordering injunctive relief and back pay. On June 12, 1975, after further negotiations concentrating primarily on the issue of back pay, the court issued its final judgment awarding one million dollars to a subclass composed of 841 members (the "back pay subclass") 2 of the 2242 person class. 3 The June 12 judgment also effected a few minor

modifications in some of the injunctive provisions of the May 14 decree.

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

On June 13, 1975 the active named plaintiffs 4 and a number of other class members requested that class attorney Oscar W. Adams, Jr. appeal the decree and judgment. Mr. Adams informed these class members that he did not intend to appeal. Robert L. Wiggins, Jr., then was retained to file objections to the decree and to prosecute an appeal. On September 5, 1975, the district court denied a motion by appellants to substitute Mr. Wiggins as class counsel and on November 20, entered its final order overruling all motions by the dissatisfied class members. This appeal followed.

The length of litigation in complex Title VII class actions often rivals that of even the most notorious antitrust cases. In the instant case, we encounter another judicial paleolithic museum piece. Last year this court, speaking in retrospect but proving to be prophetic as well, cited Pettway III as an example of the time and expense which must be incurred "before the dust of combat has finally settled" in employment discrimination class actions. Cotton v. Hinton, 559 F.2d 1326, 1331 (5th Cir. 1977). Little did we then realize that we were dealing with atomic fallout rather than mere dust. At the beginning of our 57 page opinion in Pettway III we stated, perhaps naively, that

Although the path of this law suit is strewn with the corpses of intermediate decisions, the posture of the present case on appeal will hopefully allow final resolution. In order to accomplish this the opinion must unfortunately be long and complex.

494 F.2d at 216 (footnote omitted). As is now evident, the fallout continues to radiate, and our earlier optimism regarding the disposition of this case has mutated to less hopeful emotions. Nonetheless, we are undaunted by the crushing weight of accumulated record and remain mindful that the Court must not diverge from the direction chartered for us by the Title VII compass, no matter how long and difficult the journey. We, thus, address ourselves to the fourth appearance of this case, determined to ensure that the victims of illegal racial discrimination receive the full measure of relief which the law accords them.

Our burden is eased considerably by the thorough and scholarly opinion written by Judge Tuttle in the prior appeal. Except where subsequent cases further elucidate our prior holding or provide necessary qualifications, we have been able to adopt the factual and legal conclusions reached in Pettway III without the need for an extensive review of previously considered authorities. Even so, our task will require an opinion of a magnitude similar to Judge Tuttle's opus.

This case presents a multitude of issues. On the one hand, we are asked to address fundamental questions at the heart of class action jurisprudence, such as the appealability of class action judgments by dissatisfied class members, the standards for settlement approval in the face of widespread dissent from the class, and the choice of the appropriate decision-maker to act on behalf of the class. We are also asked to resolve highly technical questions concerning specific affirmative modifications of present plant operating practices. Appellants' primary contentions on appeal are that the injunctive relieve portions of the judgment below are inadequate to effectuate our mandate in Pettway III, that the district court erred in denying back pay to over 1400 class members, and that the back pay settlement on behalf of the subclass was inadequate and improperly approved by the court. Before reaching these issues, however, we must consider defendant's contention that appellants lack "standing" to appeal the district court's decree. Because our analysis of both appealability and the substantive issues depends in part on whether the decree should be considered a settlement or the court's own judgment, a question upon which there is vehement disagreement, we turn first to an examination of the proceedings below which culminated in the district court's November 20, 1975 final order.

I. Settlement or the Court's Own Judgment Entering the Twilight Zone

The role of an appellate court in reviewing a decree in a class action suit varies greatly depending on whether the decree was reached through a settlement by the litigants or whether the decree represents the judgment of the court. Compare Cotton v. Hinton, 559 F.2d 1326, 1330-31 (5th Cir. 1977) (settlement); Flinn v. FMC Corp., 528 F.2d 1169 (4th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 967, 96 S.Ct. 1462, 47 L.Ed.2d 734 (1976) (settlement); United States v. Allegheny-Ludlum Industries Different problems are posed by class action settlements. Lacking a fully developed evidentiary record, both the trial court and the appellate court would be incapable of making the independent assessment of the facts and law required in the adjudicatory context. Moreover, a...

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