13 Fair empl.prac.cas. 694, 12 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 11,178 Adrian Mandujano, Daniel Perez and Fidel Gutierrez v. Basic Vegetable Products, Inc.

This case comes before us as an appeal from a district court approval of a settlement of a class action suit filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 . The case involves alleged racial, ethnic, and sex discrimination by the employer, Basic Vegetable Products, Inc. (“Basic”) and the two Unions representing the workers at the two Basic plants. Appellants challenge the propriety of the class settlement on several grounds. We hold that procedures followed in approving the settlement were inadequate and we remand to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. The Facts.

This case originated with nine individual charges being filed with the EEOC which alleged that Basic and the Unions representing Basic’s employees were guilty of employment discrimination. Subsequently a class action was filed against the Unions and Basic with the same nine individuals as named plaintiffs. 1 The original complaint proposed a class defined as all Chicano workers employed by Basic at its plant in King City, California. An amended complaint, filed some 18 months later and pursuant to Rule 23(b)(2),…

(dissenting):

The history of this dispute and the elaborate and lengthy proceedings taken to assure its equitable settlement seem to me to require its resolution at this time without further litigation. I would therefore decide it without remand.

A brief chronology of the case is helpful. It discloses that in March of 1971, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) was notified by some employees of Basic Vegetable Products, Inc. (Basic) that there were employment discrimination problems at the cannery plant. An investigation was thereupon launched and continued over a period of months, resulting in a class action complaint asserting illegal-employment discrimination and civil rights violations being filed in this case in March 1972. Prior thereto, on January 27,1972, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had filed a Commissioner’s charge encompassing the same general allegations. A stay of the complaint was entered by stipulation between litigants and the agency to permit EEOC to make an investigation with its personnel and facilities.

At the conclusion of a lengthy investigation, EEOC, Basic, the unions involved, along with representatives…

541 F.2d 832 13 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 694 , 12 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 11,178 Adrian MANDUJANO et al., Plaintiffs, Daniel Perez and Fidel Gutierrez, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BASIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTS, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 74-2068. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Aug. 27, 1976. Anthony Gaenslen (argued), of Gaenslen & Fassler, San Francisco, Cal., Theodore G. Smith (argued), of Smith & Johnson, San Jose, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellants. Alan B. Exelrod (argued), of Exelrod & Mendelson, San Francisco, Cal., Jonathan H. Sakol (argued), of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enerson, San Francisco, Cal., for defendants-appellees. OPINION Before TRASK and SNEED, Circuit Judges, and EAST, * District Judge. SNEED, Circuit Judge: 1 This case comes before us as an appeal from a district court approval of a settlement of a class action suit filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 . The case involves alleged racial, ethnic, and sex discrimination by the employer, Basic Vegetable Products, Inc. ("Basic") and the two Unions representing the workers at the two Basic plants. Appellants…