On December 8, 2003, thirteen African-Americans filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas against Nucor Corporation. Represented by private counsel, the plaintiffs alleged that Nucor discriminated against them on the basis of race, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq., and Section One of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. 1981a. The plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, equitable remedies, back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

On August 24, 2004, the District Court (Judge Harry F. Barnes) severed the plaintiffs' claims into four cases and transferred each to the judicial district in which the unlawful employment practices allegedly occurred. Accordingly, this case was transferred to the District of South Carolina.

For the next nine years, the parties engaged in a protracted legal battle concerning class certification. Initially, on August 7, 2007, the District Court (Judge C. Weston Houck) denied plaintiffs' motion for class certification. But exactly two years later, this ruling was overturned by the Fourth Circuit Court (before Judge M. Blane Michael, Judge Roger L. Gregory, and Judge G. Steven Agee). Brown v. Nucor Corp., 576 F.3d 149 (4th Cir. 2009). The District Court subsequently granted certification on February 16, 2011, although it modified the class composition on April 27, 2011, upon the defendants' request. The Court defined the class as "All African-Americans who are . . . or were employed by Nucor Corporation . . . at any time between December 2, 1999 . . . in the beam mill, hot mill, cold mill, melting, maintenance, and shipping departments, and who may have been discriminated against because of Nucor's challenged practices."

The battle continued. After the Supreme Court's decision in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes in June 2011, the defendants' filed a motion to decertify the class. On September 11, 2012, the Court granted the motion with respect to the plaintiffs' disparate treatment and impact claims and denied the motion with respect to the plaintiffs' hostile work environment claim. Both parties filed subsequent motions related to class certification, but the Court denied them on April 5, 2013 and September 27, 2013.

The case is ongoing as of January 30, 2014.

Jordan Rossen - 01/30/2014


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