On September 19, 2000, several African-American and Hispanic production employees at the defendant's facility in New York filed a class action lawsuit under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and Section 296 of the New York Executive Law against defendants Coca Cola Bottling Company of New York ("Coke New York") and Coca Cola Enterprises, Inc. ("CCE") in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, White Plains Division. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, asked the court for compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief, claiming that Coke New York and CCE had engaged in a practice of discriminating against African-American and Hispanic production workers in terms of their work assignments, training and discipline. They further alleged that supervisors employed by defendants had subjected African-American and Hispanic employees to a hostile work environment on the basis of their race and/or national origin.

On January 16, 2001, the defendants moved to dismiss the case pursuant to Rule 12(B)(6) of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On June 25, 2001, the district court (Judge Colleen McMahon) denied the motion to dismiss, but declined to grant defendant's motion in opposition to class certification. On September 6, 2001, the district court dismissed the case because of a private settlement, finding that because the case was at a nascent and preliminary stage with no class having been certified, and that no notice had been previously been given to the members of the putative class no fairness hearing was required.

Kunyi Zhang - 08/28/2010


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