Eleventh Circuit Addresses Geographically Diverse Employment Classes.In Cooper v. Southern Georgia Power Georgia Power is an electricity corporation based in Georgia. It is the largest of the four electric utilities that is operated by Southern Company. Georgia Power is an investor-owned, tax-paying public utility that serves more than two million customers in all but four of Co., 390 F.3d 695 (11th Cir. 2004), the Eleventh Circuit recently rejected certification of a geographically diverse employment class action, setting up a sharp dichotomy between the Eleventh Circuit and the Northern District of California and sending an encouraging message to large employers. In Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the Northern District of California certified a nationwide class of over 1.5 million current and former female employees of Wal-Mart, working in 3,400 stores spread across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . In Dukes, the court found that the failure to promote and unequal pay claims of that class satisfied the commonality com·mon·al·i·ty n. pl. com·mon·al·i·ties 1. a. The possession, along with another or others, of a certain attribute or set of attributes: a political movement's commonality of purpose. and typicality requirements for certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a). Additionally, the Northern District of California certified claims for injunctive relief injunctive relief n. a court-ordered act or prohibition against an act or condition which has been requested, and sometimes granted, in a petition to the court for an injunction. , compensatory and punitive damages Monetary compensation awarded to an injured party that goes beyond that which is necessary to compensate the individual for losses and that is intended to punish the wrongdoer. under F.R.C.P. ("FRCP FRCP Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. FRCP abbr. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians ") 23(b)(2), finding that the claims for equitable relief predominated over the claims for money damages. In the wake of the Dukes decision, many lawyers have cautioned that the floodgates may have opened to nationwide employment discrimination class actions involving claims for both compensatory and punitive damages. At present, the Dukes decision awaits review by the United States Court of Appeals The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit, and in some instances from other for the Ninth Circuit. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , the Eleventh Circuit reviewed a case involving remarkably similar facts and affirmed the lower court's denial of class certification. In Cooper, class plaintiffs sought certification of a class of 2,400 current and former African-American employees, who worked at locations spread across four states, asserting claims of race discrimination in promotion, evaluation and compensation. Like the plaintiffs in the Dukes action, the Cooper plaintiffs asserted that the common practice of allowing managers discretion to make the challenged compensation and promotion decisions created common questions appropriate for certification under FRCP 23(a). Affirming the rejection of the class, the Eleventh Circuit explained that where "class certification [is] sought by employees working in widely diverse job types, spread throughout different facilities and geographic locations, courts have frequently declined to certify classes." Cooper, 390 F.3d at 715. Moreover, the Eleventh Circuit also concluded that the class was not appropriate for certification under FRCP 23(b) because the equitable claims did not predominate over the demands for monetary relief. Id. at 720-21. In so ruling, the Eleventh Circuit sent a strong message that a geographically diverse group of employment discrimination plaintiffs are not appropriate for certification as a class, particularly where the group seeks compensatory and/or punitive damages. Although the decision of the Ninth Circuit in Dukes bears close watching, the Cooper decision should provide some assurances to employers that there are successful defenses that can be mounted to defeat certification of employment discrimination class actions. For additional information on the applicable law in a given jurisdiction or advice on business practices that may serve to defeat certification of employment class actions. The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. Ms Terri Ross McDermott Will & Emery emery: see corundum. emery Granular rock consisting of a mixture of the mineral corundum (aluminum oxide, Al2O3) and iron oxides such as magnetite (Fe3O4) or hematite (Fe2O3). 600 Thirteenth Street NW Washington, DC 20005-3096 UNITED STATES Tel: 2027568000 Fax: 2027568087 E-mail: pdevinsky@mwe.com URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : www.mwe.com (c) Mondaq Ltd, 2005 - Tel. +44 (0)20 8544 8300 - http://www.mondaq.com |
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