Opinion ID: 790206
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Guy

Text: 5 On October 15, 1998, the four victims who initiated the criminal charges against Berry (Keith Rene Guy Sr., Barry Lynn Demus Jr., Octavius Gillis, and Christopher Andrew Williams) filed a class action lawsuit against LFUCG, alleging that it had been both aware of and deliberately indifferent to the abuse. (This suit, Guy et al. v. LFUCG, No. 98-431-KSF, is hereinafter referred to as Guy. ) But in January of 2000, before any determination was made as to the certification of the class, the Guy plaintiffs (with the exception of Guy himself) settled with LFUCG and joined in the defense motion to dismiss the case. On January 12, 2000, Craig Johnson and David Jones, two victims who were not among the Guy plaintiffs, moved to have notice of the dismissal provided to the putative class members pursuant to Rule 23(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This request for notice was rejected by the district court in an April 4, 2000 order that provides the following rationale: Four named plaintiffs brought the instant case and Jones and Johnson moved to intervene. Considering that this lawsuit was filed in October 1998 and that there has been an enormous amount of publicity about the case, the Court believes that it is unlikely that many more alleged victims will come forward. Accordingly, the Court finds that the class is not so numerous that joinder is impracticable. Since the class fails to meet the prerequisites of Rule 23(a), notice to putative class members is not warranted. 6 As demonstrated by the later filings related to this case, however, the district court's reasoning was based on faulty assumptions. Nearly 100 putative class members came forward within two years after the district court's April 4, 2000 Guy order that dismissed the case. Guy, Johnson, and Jones all appealed. 7 As discussed in greater detail below, Johnson and Jones eventually settled. Guy's appeal, however, was considered by a prior panel of this court in Guy v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Gov't, Nos. 00-5434 & 00-5569, 2003 WL 133037 (6th Cir. Jan.15, 2003) (unpublished). The panel concluded that Guy lacked standing to pursue the claim with respect to the notice requirement. Similarly, the panel concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding Guy to his earlier agreement to settle his case. It therefore affirmed the judgment of the district court in Guy.