63 Fair empl.prac.cas. (Bna) 702, 63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,722 Bette M. Charles Ruby Asque William Burns, on Behalf of Themselves and Others Similarly Situated v. H. Lawrence Garrett, Iii, Secretary of the Navy

12 F.3d 870 63 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 702 , 63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,722 Bette M. CHARLES; Ruby Asque; William Burns, On behalf of Themselves and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. H. Lawrence GARRETT, III, Secretary of the Navy, Defendant-Appellee. No. 92-15743. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Oct. 5, 1993. Decided Dec. 20, 1993. Julius L. Chambers and Charles Stephen Ralston, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., New York City, for plaintiffs-appellants. Stephen L. Schirle and Beth McGarry, Asst. U.S. Attys., San Francisco, CA, for defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before: TANG, TROTT and FERNANDEZ, Circuit Judges. TROTT, Circuit Judge: 1 The plaintiffs filed a class complaint with the Department of Navy alleging racial discrimination. For more than ten years, their case vacillated between the Navy and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), until the Navy cancelled the class complaint for failure to prosecute. The plaintiffs filed in district court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-16(c) (1988). The district court granted the…