Opinion ID: 313659
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: What type of class action?

Text: 24 The instant suit is the type properly brought under Rule 23(b)(2). That section is designed for a situation in which 25 . . . the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with respect to the class as a whole. 26 Fed.Rules Civ.Proc. 23(b)(2). In the instant case Roadway refused to hire blacks as road drivers; its no-transfer rule and the union's seniority scheme perpetuated the effects of Roadway's discrimination. Such conduct clearly constitutes acting on grounds generally applicable to the class. The Advisory Committee, moreover, has said that civil rights actions aimed at discrimination are examples of the type of suit contemplated by (b)(2). 39 F.R.D. at 102. This is just such a suit. Although this suit arguably could have been brought as a (b)(3) action, (b)(2) actions generally are preferred for their wider res judicata effects. See Johnson v. City of Baton Rouge, 50 F.R.D. 295 (E.D.La. 1970); Mungin v. Florida East Coast Railway Co., 318 F.Supp. 720 (M.D.Fla. 1970), aff'd per curiam, 5th Cir. 1971, 441 F.2d 728, cert. denied 1971, 404 U.S. 897, 92 S.Ct. 203, 30 L.Ed.2d 175. 3 B Moore's Federal Practice, p 23.31. 27