Opinion ID: 751863
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rafferty

Text: 24 Although the district court rested its decision in part on an analysis of Rafferty v. City of Youngstown, 54 F.3d 278 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 931, 116 S.Ct. 338, 133 L.Ed.2d 236 (1995), we conclude that the factual context of Rafferty completely distinguishes that case from the case at bar. In Rafferty, a class composed of white police officers sued the City of Youngstown claiming unlawful racial discrimination in regard to the City's promotion procedures taken pursuant to a consent decree entered into by the City in the previous Williams v. Vukovich litigation. The district court in Rafferty granted summary judgment to the City holding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge actions taken by the City pursuant to the consent decree. This court affirmed, holding that because the FOP, the exclusive bargaining representative of all police officers in Youngstown (including the plaintiffs), had intervened in the Williams litigation, the plaintiffs' interests had been adequately represented, and they were bound by the consent decree. 25 In contrast, as previously explained, in the instant case neither the FOP nor the CPPA adequately represented the interests of the appellants, who were not members of either organization. Accordingly, the facts in Rafferty distinguish it from the facts presented in this case, and that factual distinction requires us to reach a different conclusion here from the one reached by the Rafferty court. 7