Opinion ID: 751863
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Civil Rights Act of 1991

Text: 10 Section 108 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(n)(1)(B) provides in pertinent part as follows: 11 A practice described in subparagraph (A) may not be challenged in a claim under the Constitution or Federal civil rights laws--...(ii) by a person whose interests were adequately represented by another person who had previously challenged the judgment or order on the same legal grounds and with a similar factual situation, unless there has been an intervening change in law or fact. 12 The fundamental question is how to determine whether a party's interests were adequately represented by another. Guidance to answering that question is provided by the Report of the House Education and Labor Committee which states: 13 Subsection 703(m)(1)(B) sets a standard analogous to that of Rule 23 [of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure], and permits preclusion of subsequent challenges to court decrees by persons whose interests were adequately represented by another person who challenged such judgment or order prior to or after entry. The term adequately represented is intended to have the meaning usually associated with the term under Rule 23. 14 H.R. REP. NO. 102-40(I), at 57, reprinted in 1991 U.S.C.C.A.N. 549, 595. 15 Rule 23(a) establishes four prerequisites to a class action: (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. See FED.R.CIV.P. 23. In order to understand the nature of the adequate representation requirement, the Supreme Court's recent construction of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(4) offers assistance. The adequacy inquiry under Rule 23(a)(4) serves to uncover conflicts of interest between named parties and the class they seek to represent. A class representative must be part of the class and possess the same interest and suffer the same injury as the class members. Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, ---- - ----, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 2250-51, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997) (quotation omitted) (citations omitted). Accordingly, to satisfy the adequate representation requirements under Rule 23 and thereby under § 108, there must be an absence of a conflict of interest, and the presence of common interests and injury. 16 There are similarities in some of the concerns addressed by prerequisites 23(a)(2) (commonality), 23(a)(3) (typicality), and 23(a)(4) (representation). As the Supreme Court explained in General Tel. Co. of the Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982): 17 The commonality and typicality requirements of Rule 23(a) tend to merge. Both serve as guideposts for determining whether under the particular circumstances maintenance of a class action is economical and whether the named plaintiff's claim and the class claims are so interrelated that the interests of the class members will be fairly and adequately protected in their absence. Those requirements therefore also tend to merge with the adequacy-of-representation requirement, although the latter requirement also raises concerns about the competency of class counsel and conflicts of interest. 18 Id. at 157 n. 13, 102 S.Ct. at 2370-71 n. 13. Cf. HERBERT NEWBERG & ALBA CONTE, NEWBURG ON CLASS ACTIONS § 3.22, at 3-126 (3d ed. 1992) ([T]he two factors that are now predominately recognized as the basic guidelines for the Rule 23(a)(4) prerequisite are (1) absence of conflict and (2) assurance of vigorous prosecution.); CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT, ARTHUR R. MILLER, AND MARY KAY KANE, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 1768, at 326 (2d ed. 1986) (It is axiomatic that a putative representative cannot adequately protect the class if his interests are antagonistic to or in conflict with the objectives of those he purports to represent.). For purposes of this case, the key determinants underlying the adequacy of representation relate to the issues of conflicts of interest, common interest, and common injury. 19 Here, there is no commonality of interest or injury between the prior parties (the FOP and the CPPA) and the appellants who are seeking to become patrol officers, because the members of the FOP and the CPPA are all current employees. Those people who are already employed suffered no injury related to the hiring procedures for subsequent hires compelled by the amended consent decree. The FOP and the CPPA earlier opposed the consent decree, at least in part, because it covered promotions--the issue directly affecting their members. Yet despite initial vigorous opposition to the extension of the consent decree, the two unions eventually agreed to the amended consent decree that just covered hiring, the issue not affecting their members (who already were employees), but only affecting applicants like the appellants. 20 These circumstances establish that far from there being a commonality of interest or injury, there is in fact a conflict of interest. The interest of the FOP and CPPA in securing promotion opportunities for their members is different from and poses a potential conflict with the interest asserted by appellants in securing hiring opportunities under the hiring process created by the amended consent decree. That potential conflict manifests itself in the decision by the FOP and CPPA to abandon their opposition to the amended consent decree covering the hiring process; it appears they did so in exchange for the amended consent decree not covering the promotion process. As a result, in abandoning an issue affecting applicants only, the FOP and CPPA concomitantly abandoned any purported representation of the interests of applicants. 21 In the absence of commonality and the presence of a conflict, the FOP and the CPPA did not meet the adequate representation requirements under Rule 23 and thereby failed to qualify as adequate representatives under § 108. See, e.g., General Tel. Co. of the Northwest v. EEOC, 446 U.S. 318, 331, 100 S.Ct. 1698, 1706-07, 64 L.Ed.2d 319 (1980) (In employment discrimination litigation, conflicts might arise, for example, between employees and applicants who were denied employment and who will, if granted relief, compete with employees for fringe benefits or seniority. Under Rule 23, the same plaintiff could not represent these classes.). 5 22 Congress has placed great emphasis on encouraging voluntary settlements, especially in the employment context. Local No. 93, Int'l Ass'n of Firefighters v. City of Cleveland, 478 U.S. 501, 517, 106 S.Ct. 3063, 3072-73, 92 L.Ed.2d 405 (1986). Section 108 strikes a balance between encouraging consent decrees and ensuring that those affected by decrees have an adequate opportunity to protect their interests. Andrea Catania and Charles A. Sullivan, Judging Judgments: The 1991 Civil Rights Act and the Lingering Ghost of Martin v. Wilks, 57 BROOK. L. REV . 995, 1032 (1992). In striking this balance, Congress endeavor[ed] to promote the finality of consent judgments by providing limited opportunity for challenges to their legitimacy. Marjorie A. Silver, Fairness and Finality: Third-Party Challenges to Employment Discrimination Consent Decrees After the 1991 Civil Rights Act, 62 FORDHAM L. REV. 321, 340-41 (1993). 23 One such limited opportunity allows a nonparty to challenge a consent decree where the nonparty's interests were not adequately represented. As the Supreme Court has explained, it would violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to bind litigants to a judgment rendered in an earlier litigation to which they were not parties and in which they were not adequately represented. Richards v. Jefferson County, 517 U.S. 793, ----, 116 S.Ct. 1761, 1764, 135 L.Ed.2d 76 (1996) (citing Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32, 37, 61 S.Ct. 115, 116, 85 L.Ed. 22 (1940)). Because the appellants were not adequately represented by either the FOP or the CPPA in the Shield litigation, § 108 and principles of due process require that we allow them to bring their action now. 6