Charles L. JORDAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, Defendant-Appellee

In the United States Supreme Court’s order of October 4, 1982, Jordan v. County of Los Angeles, 669 F.2d 1311 (9th Cir.1982) was vacated-U.S.-, 103 S.Ct. 35 , 74 L.Ed.2d 48 and remanded in light of General Telephone Co. of Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147 , 102 S.Ct. 2364 , 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982).

In Falcon , the Court held that the district court erred in allowing the named plaintiff, Falcon, to represent both employees who were denied promotions and applicants who were denied employment, where Falcon’s individual complaint involved only discrimination in promotion. In reaching this result, the Court articulated the requirements for a named plaintiff to be a proper class representative under Fed.R.Civ.Proc. 23(a). The Court focused on the Rule 23(a) “commonality” requirement, and to a lesser extent, the “typicality” requirement, id. at 2370-73, recognizing that the two requirements often tend to merge. Id. at 2371 n. 13.

At the heart of the Falcon decision was the Supreme court’s rejection of the “across-the-board” rule announced in Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc., 417 F.2d 1122 (5th Cir.1969). Under that rule “it is permissible for ‘an employee complaining of one…