Opinion ID: 781700
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Refusal To Certify Defendant Classes

Text: 35 Plaintiffs sought certification of a defendant class of all CTA-affiliated local unions and a defendant class of all school superintendents whose employees were represented by those unions. The named defendants, the local unions and school superintendents of the districts in which the plaintiffs work, would serve as representatives for classes comprised of local unions and school superintendents in districts other than those in which the plaintiffs teach. Rule 23(b)(2) permits the certification of a class if the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with respect to the class as a whole. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2). The eight plaintiff classes have taken no action with respect to the proposed defendant classes. Indeed, plaintiffs have no relationship whatsoever to the proposed defendant classes, because plaintiffs are employed only by the school districts whose superintendents are named defendants. The district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that the proposed defendant classes should not be certified under Rule 23(b)(2).