Opinion ID: 475264
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Litigation of Liability

Text: 2 In January 1974 Jasper Neely and two other named plaintiffs filed a class action alleging widespread racial discrimination in the city of Grenada, Mississippi (Grenada), on behalf of themselves and a class defined as all past, present, and future Black employees ... of the Grenada, Mississippi Police Department, Fire Department, Water Department, Sanitation Department and City Offices. Named as defendants were the city of Grenada, its police, fire, water, and sanitation departments, its mayor, city manager, members of its city council, and its police and fire chiefs. The complaint alleged that the defendants had for many years failed to hire or promote class members because of their race, resulting in a nearly all-white city government work force, with the few blacks occupying menial positions. The plaintiffs alleged theories of relief pursuant to civil rights statutes, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1983, Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(f)(g), and declaratory judgment provisions, 28 U.S.C. Secs. 2201, 2202. 3 The district judge assigned to the case was to preside over the next eleven and one-half years of its litigation. The district court upon motion ruled the suit maintainable as a class action in October 1974. 1 Extensive discovery, including depositions of numerous class members and city officials, was conducted with frequent intervention required of the district court. An amended complaint in October 1974 added several more past and present city officials as defendants. After several delays and last-minute discovery wranglings, the district court held a seven-day bench trial in December 1976 on issues of liability. The court in April 1977 issued a preliminary injunction barring the defendants from hiring any non-laborer or non-janitorial employees without prior court approval. Over the following months, the district court became involved in the details of Grenada's hiring practices, approving the hiring of each new employee and modifying the preliminary injunction to exempt certain part-time positions. 4 In August 1977, the district court released a lengthy memorandum opinion delineating its findings of fact and conclusions of law as to the individual and class claims. 438 F.Supp. 390 (N.D.Miss.1977). The opinion explained in detail the long-standing underrepresentation and underemployment of blacks in the city work force as a whole as well as in the various city departments. The court described several instances where willing and qualified blacks were passed over in hiring or promotion in favor of equally or less well qualified whites. The court found the city and its officials liable under civil rights statutes and Title VII, and permanently enjoined the practicing [of] racially discriminatory policies in the hiring, promotion, and training of city employees. The court ordered the parties to propose appropriate affirmative action programs to remedy the continuing discrimination, and ordered that the class be notified in order to identify injured members who were entitled to back pay. No appeal was taken from these determinations. 5 Several class members filed individual claims for back pay, and the plaintiffs filed a proposed affirmative action plan. The court referred these claims for back pay to a magistrate appointed as special master. Ultimately, the parties entered into a stipulation on the amounts of back pay due to several individuals, in amounts ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars each. Shortly thereafter, the district court awarded attorney's fees to the two attorneys who had successfully represented the plaintiff class. 2