Filed Date: April 29, 1988
Closed Date: Oct. 9, 2009
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On April 29th, 1988 a group of white firefighters filed suit against Chicago in the District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois alleging that the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) had discriminated against them by denying or delaying promotions. The group was certified as a class in May 1990. The complaint stemmed from the CFD's 1986 test for promotion. The test had been developed to be non-discriminatory but had disparate impact and thus the CFD elected to use segregated lists for promotion.
The district court (Judge James F. Holderman) separated the liability and damages phase of the case. On October 4th, 2000 a jury determined that the CFD had discriminated against the class. Class members who would not have been promoted were dismissed from the case on September 7th, 2001. On February 28th and May 17th, 2002 two jury trials concerning class members whose promotions were delayed or denied resulted in monetary damages for 19 class members totaling roughly $5.1 million. Chicago appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and on August 27th, 2004 the court (Judge Easterbrook, Judge Manion, and Judge Williams) vacated the awards holding that they were excessive. Plaintiffs were denied en banc review on September 21st, 2004 and their petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court on February 28th, 2005.
A trial concerning injunctive relief resulted in the promotion of a number of these plaintiffs on December 16th, 2005. Settlement negotiations ensued regarding all damages, resulting in final judgments awarding various promotions and reduced monetary damages of roughly $2 million to these plaintiffs in December 2006 and January 2007. The remaining plaintiffs, those whose promotions would have been denied had the CFD not ceased using the lists early, and Chicago engaged in settlement negotiations and on February 20th, 2009 the district court approved a damage allocation process distributing $6 million. Final judgment was entered on October 9th, 2009.
Summary Authors
Michael Perry (6/30/2010)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5207283/parties/chgo-fire-fighters-v-chgo/
Bish, Suzanne Elaine (Illinois)
Abrahams, Nadine C. (Illinois)
Avendano, Naomi Ann (Illinois)
Burke, Edward J. (Illinois)
Bredemann, Ronald (Illinois)
Easterbrook, Frank Hoover (Illinois)
Holderman, James F. (Illinois)
Manion, Daniel Anthony (Indiana)
Williams, Ann Claire (Illinois)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5207283/chgo-fire-fighters-v-chgo/
Last updated Sept. 18, 2023, 3:05 a.m.
State / Territory: Illinois
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Private Employment Class Actions
Key Dates
Filing Date: April 29, 1988
Closing Date: Oct. 9, 2009
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
White firefighters whose promotions were delayed or denied.
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: Yes
Class Action Outcome: Granted
Defendants
City of Chicago (Chicago, Cook), City
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Title VII (including PDA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Form of Settlement:
Amount Defendant Pays: Roughly $8,000,000
Content of Injunction:
Issues
General:
Discrimination-area:
Discrimination-basis:
Race: