Press & News

Firm Win for Client Noted In Daily Labor Report
04/05/2006

The significant win the firm achieved for client QuietFlex is noted in the April 5 issue of The Daily Labor Report.  The article ("Group Punitive Damages Dooms Class Action In National Origin Bias Case, Judge Rules") notes that "A group of Latino workers alleging national origin discrimination in transfer, pay, and being subject to a hostile environment have been denied class certification because their request for punitive damages but no compensatory damages was unreasonable, a federal court in Texas ruled March 31 (Colindres v. QuietFlex Mfg.).  Refusing to certify the class of some 330 current and former employees of Houston-based QuietFlex Manufacturing and Goodman Manufacturing, Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas said that certifying a class including punitive damages under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure was not possible because the claims were too individualized."

"In rejecting the class actions proposed by the private plaintiffs, the court said that Allison v. Citgo Petroleum, prevented certification because the workers sought classwide punitive damages, which run counter to Allison's admonition that individualized determinations regarding compensatory and punitive damages prevented class treatment.  After reciting the history of Allison, the judge noted that since the 1998 decision, only three employment discrimination classes have been approved by courts within the reach of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and in those cases the certification was granted either for settlement purposes or only for injunctive relief."

"An attorney for QuietFlex told BNA April 4 that the decision is significant because it specifically prevented punitive damages, an issue that has divided other courts and is at the heart of the largest class action in history certified in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores. The case is currently on review by the Ninth Circuit.  "This decision reaches the opposite conclusion of Dukes and I think it is important to see how two courts have handled similar issues," said Gerald L. Maatman Jr. of Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago. Maatman said the ruling represents a "further extension" of Allison and that the decision appeared to raise questions about any possible classes that could be proposed by the workers."