Nucor Prevails in Class Action Case
09/26/2011 - The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed that a national class action brought against Nucor-Yamato not only was inappropriate, but there was no evidence of plant-wide discrimination at the Blytheville, Ark., plant.
After eight years of effort to certify a national class action against Nucor, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed that not only was a national class action inappropriate, but there was no evidence of plant-wide discrimination at Nucor-Yamato Steel, in Blytheville, Ark.
Ruling in Nucor-Yamato's favor, the Eighth Circuit found that a trial court properly denied class action claims brought by six current and former employees of the Blytheville. United States District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright had previously ruled that there was no evidence of common, plant-wide discrimination, and the appellate court agreed.
The District Judge dismissed most of the remaining individual claims of discrimination prior to trial, and the jury found another to have no merit. At trial, the Plaintiffs' law firm sought $23 million for the handful of remaining claims, but the jury instead awarded the six individual plaintiffs $200,000. Nucor appealed the jury's findings on these isolated individual claims of discrimination at the trial, but the Eighth Circuit left intact the jury's verdict on the remaining claims due to the heightened standard of review for overturning any jury verdict.
Many of Nucor-Yamato’s more than 800 team members who were not a part of this lawsuit testified at trial to the extraordinary financial, educational, and professional opportunities as well as the friendly, cooperative and respectful workplace environment Nucor-Yamato has afforded them. Even one of the plaintiffs – in between his allegations of discrimination – admitted to the jury that working for Nucor-Yamato was "like winning the lottery." A second plaintiff, while waiting for the case to come to trial requested that his son be hired by Nucor-Yamato.
Nucor-Yamato Steel continues to deny that any discrimination occurred at the plant and was pleased that the Eighth Circuit confirmed that there was no evidence of plant-wide discrimination. The company said it believes that it can only succeed if its people succeed, and that it will continue to enforce its long-established practice of maintaining a workplace free of discrimination of any kind.
