Staton v. Boeing Co.

Opinion by Circuit Judge BERZON. Dissenting opinion by Circuit Judge TROTT.

ORDER

The panel majority opinion filed November 26, 2002, is withdrawn and the attached opinion is ORDERED filed.

With the filing of the attached opinion, a majority of the panel has voted to deny defendants/appellees’ petition for rehearing. Judge Berzon has voted to deny the plaintiffs/appellees’ and defendants/appel-lees’ petitions for rehearing en banc and Judge Lay has so recommended. Judge Trott has voted to grant the petition for rehearing and to grant the petitions for rehearing en banc.

The full court was advised of the petitions for rehearing en banc. A judge of the court requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. The en banc request failed to receive a majority of the votes of the nonrecused active judges in favor of en banc consideration. Fed. R.App.P. 35.

The petition for rehearing and the petitions for rehearing en banc are DENIED.

OPINION

This case involves a consent decree in an employment discrimination class lawsuit. The action was brought in 1998 by a class of approximately 15,000 African-American employees of the Boeing Company (“Boeing” or “the Company”) against…

Dissenting.

As they always do, my conscientious colleagues display a thorough and scholarly grasp of the issues that arise in the settlement of class lawsuits. With all respect, however, I see this settlement and the district court’s approval of it in a different light. Thus, I respectfully dissent.

Three main worries, each of which in my view is just an illusion, appear to be driving the majority’s decision to reverse the district court’s approval of this consent decree: (1) the “possibility” that class counsel could have betrayed their clients in favor of their own fees; (2) that the “large differential” in the distribution of monetary awards between class representatives and certain identified class members, on one hand, and unnamed class members on the other, indicates something rotten in Denmark; and (3) that the district court inflated the $3.65 million value attached to the “largely precatory” injunctive relief. As I read this record, and as I shall attempt to demonstrate, these concerns have no foundation in fact or law.

Collusion

The Objectors correctly direct our attention to the rule that we have an obligation to police the settlement of class actions for evidence…

327 F.3d 938 Eleanor STATON; Beverly Trotter; Kevin Biglow, Plaintiffs-Appellants, Solomon Williams; Shirley Miller; Deborah Woods; Wendy Kelly; Myron Knight; Michael Eckles; Donald Ballard; William Bell; Clarence Thompson; Doreen Ferguson; Cynthia Evans; Willie Wilson; Mary Dean; Brian Todd; Tim Jones; David Brawley; Mara Ferrari; Rhonda Capps; Charles Jones; David Roberts; Verlene Maholmes; Terry Fisher; Carol Calender; Evalean Moore; Ralph Wilson; Ronnie Mitchell; Theodeshia Knauls; Michael Marion, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Nadine McClam-Brown; Carla Abraham; Bertha Alexander; Shirley Allen; Billynda E. Anderson; Lawrence Andrews; Dorothy J. Ayers; Avis M. Banks; Jimmie L. Banks; Joyce A. Bates; Ray A. Bates; Ida M. Battles; Marshall Battles, Sr.; Terri M. Bean; Alfred Beasley; Vivian Jean Bell; Marcia L. Benford; Rosie J. Black; Adrienne Bland; Theresa Bozeman; Byron Breckenridge; John Bridgewater; Maceo E. Bridgewater; Annie Brooks; Johnnie Paul Brooks; Ronnie Brown; Simon Brown, Jr.; Mark A. Bufford; William Bumpers; Wilbert G. Burgess, Sr.; Henry F. Butler; Soloman C. Butts; Ellis Cameron; Harry Carlis; Tevis Carpenter; Ford Carr; Tamu Chandler; Betty Childers; Michael…