Opinion ID: 515186
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 1 This appeal is before us following the district court's certification pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(b) of its order giving court authorization to plaintiffs in an action under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 621 et seq., to send a notice to those members of the asserted class who have not yet opted in to plaintiffs' suit. The district court, Judge Harold A. Ackerman, identified the controlling question of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion as whether, in a case governed by 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b), the district court possess[es] the authority to facilitate notice of the action to ... persons who have not yet filed consents to join the action. App. at 715. This court granted leave to appeal and there is no dispute as to our appellate jurisdiction over this portion of the order, which is before us in No. 88-5214. 2 The defendant-employer Hoffman-La Roche Inc. (Roche) also moved in the district court to vacate the approximately 400 consents to enter the suit which have already been filed, arguing that those consents were a result of plaintiffs' allegedly inflammatory, misleading and incomplete letter sent March 7, 1985, prior to any court authorization. Appellant's Brief in Opposition to Appellees' Motion to Dismiss at 2. The district court denied the motion and thereafter declined to certify that portion of its order under section 1292(b), expressly holding that the controlling question Roche identified as warranting immediate appellate review was not a controlling question of law which offers a substantial ground for difference of opinion. 3 Roche then filed a petition in this court for a writ of mandamus seeking to reverse the district court's refusal to invalidate the consents. We denied the petition. Roche has, however, filed an appeal from the court's order denying its motion to vacate. Plaintiffs have moved to dismiss that appeal, before us as No. 88-5104. We will consider our jurisdiction over that appeal following a brief summary of the facts and procedural posture of the litigation.