Opinion ID: 380460
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appellant's Substantive Class Certification

Text: 25 Although the appellant argues that the class did not meet three of the requirements of Rule 23(a) 6 , most of these claims are based on the appellant's contention that Falcon, who was complaining of discrimination with respect to promotion, could not represent a class complaining of discrimination with respect to hiring. General maintains that according to East Texas Motor Freight System, Inc. v. Rodriguez, 431 U.S. 395, 97 S.Ct. 1891, 52 L.Ed.2d 453 (1977), Falcon cannot represent both hiring and promotional discriminatees because he has not established a sufficient nexus between his claims of promotional discrimination and the other class members' claims of hiring discrimination. See also Scott v. University of Delaware, 601 F.2d 76 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied 444 U.S. 931, 100 S.Ct. 275, 62 L.Ed.2d 189 (1979); Hill v. Western Electric Co., Inc., 596 F.2d 99 (4th Cir.), cert. denied 444 U.S. 929, 100 S.Ct. 271, 62 L.Ed.2d 186 (1979). 26 In contrast, Falcon argues that this Court has not interpreted the nexus requirement of East Texas Motor Freight as restrictively as other courts and that, therefore, this action was properly certified under this Court's standards. See Payne v. Travenol Laboratories, Inc., 565 F.2d 895 (5th Cir.), cert. denied 439 U.S. 835, 99 S.Ct. 118, 58 L.Ed.2d 131 (1978); Vuyanich v. Republic National Bank of Dallas, 82 F.R.D. 420 (N.D.Tex.1979); Satterwhite v. City of Greenville, 578 F.2d 987 (5th Cir. 1978) (en banc), vac. and remanded 445 U.S. 940, 100 S.Ct. 1334, 63 L.Ed.2d 773 (1980). Falcon's position is essentially that this Court still permits across the board attacks on discrimination. 27 We agree. In Payne v. Travenol Laboratories, Inc. ; supra, this Court said: 28 Plaintiffs' action is an across the board attack on unequal employment practices alleged to have been committed by Travenol pursuant to a policy of racial discrimination. As parties who have allegedly been aggrieved by some of these discriminatory practices, plaintiffs have demonstrated a sufficient nexus to enable them to represent other class members suffering from different practices motivated by the same policies. (Citations omitted) 7 29 It is therefore apparent that this Court permits an employee complaining of one employment practice to represent another complaining of another practice, if the plaintiff and the members of the class suffer from essentially the same injury. In this case, all of the claims are based on discrimination because of national origin. It is consistent with the holding in Rodriguez and the policy of Title VII to allow a plaintiff to represent a class suffering from a common discriminatory complaint. While similarities of sex, race or national origin claims are not dispositive in favor of finding that the prerequisites of Rule 23 have been met, they are an extremely important factor in the determination, that can outweigh the fact that the members of the plaintiff class may be complaining about somewhat different specific discriminatory practices. See also Quigley v. Braniff Airways, Inc., 85 F.R.D. 74, 78-79 (N.D.Tex.1979); Cooper v. University of Texas at Dallas, 482 F.Supp. 187, 192 (N.D.Tex.1979). In addition here, the plaintiff showed more than an alliance based simply on the same type of discriminatory claim. He also showed a similarity of interests based on job location, job function and other considerations. Cf. Crawford v. Western Electric Co., Inc., 614 F.2d 1300, 1304 (5th Cir. 1980). 30 Given our finding of a sufficient nexus between the plaintiffs' claims and those of the class, we find that the requirements of Rule 23 were satisfied. 8 See note 6. We therefore hold that the trial court acted correctly when it certified Falcon's claim on behalf of these other plaintiffs. 9