HORNE V. READING | Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse

Case: Horne v. Reading

2:05-cv-06334 | U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Filed Date: Dec. 8, 2005

Clearinghouse coding complete

Case Summary

Notes from the NAACP website: On February 27, 2006, the National NAACP and the Reading Branch NAACP joined an employment lawsuit, originally filed on December 8, 2005, against the City of Reading, Pennsylvania. The suit charged the Reading Fire Department with implementing discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices against African Americans and other minorities. Although the City of Reading was 11% Black and 37% Latinx, the Fire Department was virtually all-white. Of the Fire Department's …

Notes from the NAACP website:

On February 27, 2006, the National NAACP and the Reading Branch NAACP joined an employment lawsuit, originally filed on December 8, 2005, against the City of Reading, Pennsylvania. The suit charged the Reading Fire Department with implementing discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices against African Americans and other minorities. Although the City of Reading was 11% Black and 37% Latinx, the Fire Department was virtually all-white. Of the Fire Department's 147 full-time, uniformed employees, there were no Black employees and fewer than five Latinx employees.

The complaint alleged that the City's discriminatory employment practices include: refusing to recruit and hire Black people and other minorities for firefighter positions on the same basis as whites; basing such recruitment on a primarily "word of mouth" system that results in the employment of friends and relatives of current City firefighters, the vast majority of whom are white; failing or refusing to adopt nondiscriminatory recruitment, application, testing, and selection techniques for the position of firefighter; and failing or refusing to take appropriate action to correct the effects of its past discriminatory policies and practices.

Plaintiffs in the case sought relief in the form of: a permanent injunction barring the City from discriminating against Black and other minority firefighter candidates on the basis of race and/or national origin; a permanent injunction directing the City to adopt and implement a vigorous recruitment program designed to attract qualified Black and other minority applicants for employment in numbers which at least reflect the proportion of minority applicants and candidates in and around the City; lost income and benefits; reasonable attorneys' fees and expert fees.

After some settlement conferences and status reports, on March 27, 2007, the parties entered into a settlement which was approved by the court as a consent decree. Under the terms of the consent decree, the defendants agreed to encourage minority applicants into the firefighter program. The docket has no entries after the consent decree, and we have no further information in this case.

show full summary

Summary Authors

Kristen Sagar (4/9/2009)

People

Judge(s)

Sánchez, Juan Ramon (Pennsylvania)

Attorneys(s) for Plaintiff

Asaka, Anson (Maryland)

Feinberg, Jonathan H. (Pennsylvania)

Hayes, Dennis Courtland (Maryland)

Marcus, Terri N. (District of Columbia)

Rose, David L. (District of Columbia)

Rudovsky, David (Pennsylvania)

Santillo, R. Andrew (Pennsylvania)

Winebrake, Peter D. (Pennsylvania)

Attorneys(s) for Defendant

Ludwig, Steven K. (Pennsylvania)

Judge(s)

Sánchez, Juan Ramon (Pennsylvania)

Attorneys(s) for Plaintiff

Asaka, Anson (Maryland)

Feinberg, Jonathan H. (Pennsylvania)

Hayes, Dennis Courtland (Maryland)

Marcus, Terri N. (District of Columbia)

Rose, David L. (District of Columbia)

Rudovsky, David (Pennsylvania)

Santillo, R. Andrew (Pennsylvania)

Winebrake, Peter D. (Pennsylvania)

Attorneys(s) for Defendant

Ludwig, Steven K. (Pennsylvania)

show all people

Documents in the Clearinghouse

	Document
2:05-cv-06334	Docket [PACER] Horne v. City of Reading	March 27, 2007	March 27, 2007 Docket
1 2:05-cv-06334	Complaint Horne v. City of Reading	Dec. 8, 2005	Dec. 8, 2005 Complaint
4 2:05-cv-06334	Amended Complaint	Feb. 24, 2006	Feb. 24, 2006 Complaint
18 2:05-cv-06334	Consent Decree NAACP v. City of Reading	March 27, 2007	March 27, 2007 Settlement Agreement

show / hide documents

Docket

Last updated March 4, 2023, 3:08 a.m.

ECF Number	Description	Date	Link Date / Link
1	COMPLAINT against CITY OF READING ( Filing fee $ 250 receipt number 923920.), filed by CORTNEY HORNE.(tj, ) (Entered: 12/08/2005)	Dec. 8, 2005	Dec. 8, 2005
	Summons Issued; 1 mailed to counsel 12/8/05 as to CITY OF READING. (tj, ) (Entered: 12/08/2005)	Dec. 8, 2005	Dec. 8, 2005
2	WAIVER OF SERVICE Returned Executed by CORTNEY HORNE. CITY OF READING waiver sent on 12/28/2005, answer due 2/27/2006. (FEINBERG, JONATHAN) (Entered: 01/03/2006)	Jan. 3, 2006	Jan. 3, 2006
3	NOTICE of Appearance by STEVEN K. LUDWIG on behalf of CITY OF READING with Certificate of Service (LUDWIG, STEVEN) (Entered: 02/24/2006)	Feb. 24, 2006	Feb. 24, 2006
4	AMENDED COMPLAINT AGAINST CITY OF READING FILED BY READING BRANCH, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, CORTNEY HORNE, DECLARATION OF SERVICE.(ac, ) (Entered: 02/27/2006)	Feb. 27, 2006	Feb. 27, 2006
5	ORDER THAT THE INITIAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE BE HELD ON APRIL 3, 2006, AT 10:00 A.M.. SIGNED BY JUDGE JUAN R. SANCHEZ ON 03/17/06. 03/17/06 ENTERED AND COPIES E−MAILED.(ac, ) (Entered: 03/17/2006)	March 17, 2006	March 17, 2006
6	ANSWER to Amended Complaint with Affirmative Defenses and Certificate of service by CITY OF READING.(LUDWIG, STEVEN) Modified on 3/21/2006 (np). (Entered: 03/20/2006)	March 20, 2006	March 20, 2006
7	ORDER THAT A SECOND PRETRIAL CONFERENCE IS SET FOR 7/6/2006 AT 10:00 AM IN JUDGE'S CHAMBERS BEFORE HONORABLE JUAN R. SANCHEZ. SIGNED BY JUDGE JUAN R. SANCHEZ ON 4/5/06. 4/5/06 ENTERED AND COPIES E−MAILED.(mac, ) (Entered: 04/05/2006)	April 5, 2006	April 5, 2006
8	Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge JUAN R. SANCHEZ : Pretrial Conference held on 04/03/06. (ac, ) (Entered: 04/06/2006)	April 5, 2006	April 5, 2006
9	APPLICATION OF DAVID L. ROSE, ESQUIRE TO PRACTICE IN THIS COURT BY READING BRANCH, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, STATMENT, DECLARATION, CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE. (ac, ) Additional attachment(s) added on 5/18/2006 (ac, ). (Entered: 05/01/2006)	May 1, 2006	May 1, 2006
10	ORDER THAT THE APPLICATION OF DAVID L. ROSE, ESQUIRE TO PRACTICE IN THIS COURT ON BEHALF OF READING BRANCH NAACP IS GRANTED. SIGNED BY JUDGE JUAN R. SANCHEZ ON 05/03/06. 05/03/06 ENTERED AND COPIES MAILED AND FAXED.(ac, ) (ti, ). (Entered: 05/03/2006)	May 3, 2006	May 3, 2006
12	ORDER THAT EACH PARTY SHALL SUBMIT A WRITTEN STATUS REPORT TO THE COURT ON OR BEFORE OCTOBER 6, 2006. SIGNED BY JUDGE JUAN R. SANCHEZ ON 07/06/06. 07/07/06 ENTERED AND COPIES MAILED AND E−MAILED.(ac, ) (Entered: 07/07/2006)	July 6, 2006	July 6, 2006
13	Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge JUAN R. SANCHEZ : Pretrial Conference held on 07/06/06. (ac, ) (Entered: 07/25/2006)	July 25, 2006	July 25, 2006
14	STATUS REPORT (Joint) by CITY OF READING. (LUDWIG, STEVEN) (Entered: 10/06/2006)	Oct. 6, 2006	Oct. 6, 2006
15	ORDER THAT A TELECONFERENCE WILL TAKE PLACE ON FEBRUARY 1, 2007, AT 11:30 A.M. TO DISCUSS THE STATUS OF THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT . SIGNED BY JUDGE JUAN R. SANCHEZ ON 01/08/07. 01/08/07 ENTERED AND COPIES MAILED AND E−MAILED.(ac, ) (Entered: 01/08/2007)	Jan. 8, 2007	Jan. 8, 2007
16	NOTICE of Change of Address by PETER D. WINEBRAKE (WINEBRAKE, PETER) (Entered: 01/18/2007)	Jan. 18, 2007	Jan. 18, 2007
17	Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge JUAN R. SANCHEZ : Telephone Conference held on 02/01/07. (ac, ) (Entered: 02/05/2007)	Feb. 5, 2007	Feb. 5, 2007
18	SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT by READING BRANCH, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, CORTNEY HORNE, CITY OF READING. (LUDWIG, STEVEN) (Entered: 03/27/2007)	March 27, 2007	March 27, 2007
19	CONSENT DECREE WITH COURT APPROVAL. SIGNED BY JUDGE JUAN R. SANCHEZ ON 03/27/07. 03/27/07 ENTERED AND COPIES MAILED AND FAXED.(ac, ) Additional attachment(s) added on 5/24/2007 (nda, ). (Entered: 03/27/2007)	March 27, 2007	March 27, 2007

show / hide docket entries

Case Details

State / Territory: Pennsylvania

Case Type(s):

Equal Employment

Special Collection(s):

Multi-LexSum (in sample)

Key Dates

Filing Date: Dec. 8, 2005

Case Ongoing: No reason to think so

Plaintiffs

Plaintiff Description:

A black applicant for a position at the City of Reading Fire Department filing on behalf of himself and similarly situated individuals, joined by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Plaintiff Type(s):

Private Plaintiff

Attorney Organizations:

Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg, LLP

NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Public Interest Lawyer: Yes

Filed Pro Se: No

Class Action Sought: Yes

Class Action Outcome: Granted

Defendants

City of Reading (Reading), City

Defendant Type(s):