Opinion ID: 379272
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Plan Hearing

Text: 41 The timing of the plan hearing is one of the more troubling issues raised by Sanchez. He correctly points out that he was allowed very little time to prepare his objections to the plan. The desegregation plan was submitted on July 17, Sanchez requested substitution of counsel on July 27, and the hearing was held August 8 and 9. In addition to objecting to the plan, Sanchez was simultaneously advancing a subclass motion and preparing discovery requests. 42 We have no doubt that Sanchez received sufficient opportunity to be heard to satisfy constitutional due process requirements. See Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950). The closer question is whether the District Court abused its discretion in its scheduling of the remedy hearings, given its awareness that there were objections from within the class. 43 The fact that the action before the Court is a class suit imposes special responsibilities upon the trial judge. As noted above, representative suits carry with them inherent dangers of conflict and compromise of absentee interests. Accordingly, a Court overseeing a class suit must constantly be sensitive to conflicts within the class. See Note, Developments in the Law Class Actions, 89 Harv.L.Rev. 1318, 1490 (1976) (judicial awareness of differences within a class as a protection of absentee interests). The Court must be well informed of the views of objectors, and serve as a guardian of absentee interests. Mandujano v. Basic Vegetable Products, Inc., 541 F.2d 832 (9th Cir. 1976); Greenfield v. Villager Industries, Inc., 483 F.2d 824, 832 (3d Cir. 1973). Cf. Norman v. McKee, 431 F.2d at 774 (context of Rule 23(e)). 44 However, the desegregation plan was not a settlement and was not bound by the more formal Rule 23(e) requirements. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(e). With respect to the proposed plan, the District Court's responsibility was to assure itself that it had before it all relevant arguments, objections, and considerations concerning the plan. The extent, timing, and even existence of the plan hearing rested largely within the discretion of the trial court. 45 Review of a trial court's discretion must always be done in light of the circumstances of the case. See Anderson v. Air West, Inc., 542 F.2d 522, 524 (9th Cir. 1976). In addition, we are not to substitute our ideas of fairness for those of the trial court in the absence of evidence that it acted arbitrarily, Patterson v. Newspaper & Mail Deliverers' Union, 514 F.2d 767, 771 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 427 U.S. 911, 96 S.Ct. 3198, 49 L.Ed.2d 1203 (1976), and such evidence must constitute a clear showing of abuse of discretion, Flinn v. FMC Corp., 528 F.2d 1169, 1172 (4th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 967, 96 S.Ct. 1462, 47 L.Ed.2d 734 (1976). In re Gypsum Antitrust Cases, 565 F.2d 1123, 1128 (9th Cir. 1977). Unless we find that the exercise of discretion was arbitrary and constituted plain error under the circumstances, we will not reverse. See Bowles v. Quon, 154 F.2d 72, 73 (9th Cir. 1946). 46 It is significant that the settlement and objections have come at the remedy stage of this litigation, and not during pretrial proceedings as do many class action settlements. Here, the District Court was particularly well informed about the action, having been intimately associated with it for over four years. This association included a full trial on the merits, familiarity with a voluminous amount of evidence, and a lengthy and detailed written decision. The Court was able to assess the relative merits and significance of a given argument or objection, and determine the amount of detail needed in the presentations. A further element properly in the Court's consideration was the desire to implement whatever plan was approved at the start of the next school year in September. 47 The District Court could also assess Sanchez's opportunity to prepare his objections to the plan. First, Sanchez had been involved in the case from its commencement as one of the original named plaintiffs in the Mendoza action, placing him in a different position than that of a passive, insulated class member. Second, Sanchez requested substitution of counsel on July 27, meaning that he and his attorney had at the minimum nearly two weeks in which to prepare their objections to the plan. Third, it was clear from the District Court's order establishing the August 8th hearing that it was not a settlement hearing, but rather focused only on the acceptability of the desegregation plan. As discussed above, this was limited to an examination of the adequacy of the District's plan in acceptably correcting the constitutional violations found in the Court's June 5th decision. There was nothing misleading in the Court's order, and Sanchez should have been aware of the narrow focus of the August 8th hearing. Given these considerations, the Court could properly decide that Sanchez could prepare a presentation for the hearing sufficient to inform the Court of potential constitutional problems the plan might contain for those who, due to a conflict of interests within the class, were not adequately represented by class counsel on the issue of school closure. 48 Thus, in light of these circumstances, we cannot say the District Court abused its discretion in not postponing the plan hearing.