Opinion ID: 2994325
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Damages can be awarded only after proof of

Text: discrimination and injury specific to the individual plaintiff, see, e.g., Miller v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 203 F.3d 997, 1005 (7th Cir. 2000), so deciding the damages claims depends on an individualized analysis of each class member’s circumstances and requires additional hearings to resolve the disparate merits of each individual’s case. See Allison, 151 F.3d at 417. Even if the plaintiffs prove that Local 139 administered the referral hall in a discriminatory manner and won injunctive and declaratory relief on that ground, each individual plaintiff pursuing damages claims still would need to establish that Local 139’s discrimination caused her personal injury and would need to show the magnitude of injury to determine compensatory damages. Similarly, to win punitive damages, an individual plaintiff must establish that the defendant possessed a reckless indifference to the plaintiff’s federal rights--a fact-specific inquiry into that plaintiff’s circumstances. See Kolstad v. American Dental Ass’n, 527 U.S. 526, 119 S.Ct. 2118 (1999). As the Fifth Circuit found in Allison, the requested monetary damages for the plaintiffs’ Title VII claims were not incidental to the requested injunctive and declaratory relief. Allison, 151 F.3d at 418; cf. Boughton v. Cotter Corp., 65 F.3d 823, 827 (10th Cir. 1995). As a result, Jefferson instructs the district court to consider three alternatives for handling the case. Jefferson, 195 F.3d at 898-99. The first option is certifying the class under Rule 23(b)(3) for all proceedings. See id. at 899. Rule 23(b)(3) permits class certification when questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy. Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3). In this category of lawsuit, the class members may seek either predominantly legal or equitable remedies, but each member must share common questions of law or fact with the rest of the class, therefore making class-wide adjudication of the common questions efficient compared to repetitive individual litigation of the same questions. In contrast to Rule 23(b)(2), however, certification under Rule 23(b)(3) entails mandatory personal notice and opportunity to opt out for all class members, thereby satisfying the due process concerns in Ortiz. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(2); see also Jefferson, 195 F.3d at 898. The second option is divided certification. See Jefferson, 195 F.3d at 898-99; Williams v. Burlington Northern, Inc., 832 F.2d 100, 103 (7th Cir. 1987); see also Eubanks v. Billington, 110 F.3d 87, 96 (D.C. Cir. 1997). The district court could certify a Rule 23(b)(2) class for the portion of the case addressing equitable relief and a Rule 23(b)(3) class for the portion of the case addressing damages. This avoids the due process problems of certifying the entire case under Rule 23(b)(2) by introducing the Rule 23(b)(3) protections of personal notice and opportunity to opt out for the damages claims. Since the Civil Rights Act of 1991 entitles the parties to a jury trial on claims of intentional discrimination, see 42 U.S.C. sec. 1981a, a district court that proceeds with divided certification must adjudicate the damages claims first before a jury to preserve the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial, even if adjudication of these claims decides the equitable claims as well. See Dairy Queen, Inc. v. Wood, 369 U.S. 469 (1962); Beacon Theatres, Inc. v. Westover, 359 U.S. 500 (1959); Jefferson, 195 F.3d at 898. The third option discussed in Jefferson is that the district court might certify the class under Rule 23(b)(2) for both monetary and equitable remedies but exercise its plenary authority under Rules 23(d)(2) and 23(d)(5) to provide all class members with personal notice and opportunity to opt out, as though the class was certified under Rule 23(b)(3). Jefferson, 195 F.3d at 898; see also Thomas v. Albrecht, 139 F.3d 227, 234 (D.C. Cir. 1998); Eubanks, 110 F.3d at 94; County of Suffolk v. Long Island Lighting Co., 907 F.2d 1295, 1304 (2d Cir. 1990); Holmes v. Continental Can Co., 706 F.2d 1144, 1160 (11th Cir. 1983). In fact, a district court handled a class certified under Rule 23(b)(2) much this way in Williams. We affirmed and held that the district court provided opportunities to object that were tantamount to the protections envisioned by Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(c)(2) [for classes certified under subsection (b)(3)]. Williams, 832 F.2d at 104. The district court abused its discretion because it did not consider class certification either in part or in full under Rule 23(b)(3), nor did the court stipulate that it would provide the class members with personal notice and opportunity to opt out of the class action. The district court’s treatment of the case is understandable because Jefferson had not been decided at the time of the district court’s consideration of class certification. However, since the requested monetary damages are not incidental to the plaintiffs’ requested equitable relief, we Vacate class certification under Rule 23(b)(2) and Remand with directions to consider alternative class certification under the options presented in this opinion and Jefferson.