Opinion ID: 399361
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: decertification of the class

Text: 22 As stated previously, in 2 1/2 years, plaintiffs produced no evidence of classwide discrimination in terminations. Under these circumstances, decertification of the class was more appropriate than summary judgment against the class. Since plaintiffs' failure to produce evidence may have been due to inadequate representation of the class interests rather than to absence of classwide discrimination, decertification avoided any res judicata effect against the class. 23 Standing on a different footing is the decertification of the promotion classes. This is so because decertification was based on the erroneous determination that the claims of named plaintiffs were invalid. Having determined that decertification was improper, we need not reach the question of whether meritless representative claims should result in decertification in this action. In this respect, however, see United States Parole Comm'n v. Geraghty, 445 U.S. 388, 405-08, 100 S.Ct. 1202, 1214-15, 63 L.Ed.2d 479 (1980); East Texas Motion Freight System, Inc. v. Rodriguez, et al., 431 U.S. 395, 406 n.12, 97 S.Ct. 1891, 1898 n.12, 52 L.Ed.2d 453 (1977); Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 403, 95 S.Ct. 553, 559, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975); Satterwhite v. Greenville, 634 F.2d 231 (5th Cir. 1981).