Yesterday, a group of black firefighters filed a motion to intervene in the Ricci v. DeStefano case claiming their rights will be "irrevocably impaired " if they aren’t allowed to join in the case. You can download the motion and the accompanying memorandum of law here.
The motion was not unexpected though I’m not sure anyone expected it so soon.
Last Friday, for example, The New Haven Register reported on a new batch of discrimination claims filed at the EEOC on behalf of seven black firefighters who claimed that if the Ricci v. DeStefano lawsuit were to proceed with a trial and the test results certified, it would harm minorities in the job ranks. These firefighters are the ones that have now sought intervention. The black firefighters’ claims are separate and apart from another claim brought by firefighter Michael Briscoe, who is also challenging the decision.
As I pointed out in my earlier post and in the article, these claims face a big hurdle to overcome in light of the Supreme Court’s language about how courts should dispose of such claims against New Haven if they were to be brought. You can download one of the claims directly here.
To overcome the Supreme Court’s language, they claim that they are primarily claiming that they have been treated in a discriminatory fashion, and not merely impacted in a discriminatory way. They also claim that the Supreme Court’s language was merely dictum and not binding on future courts.
How the District Court treats this new filing will no doubt be the subject of lots of speculation in the upcoming days but it is clear that despite efforts by the Ricci parties to work towards a resolution, the case is far from being concluded in one form or another.
In the meantime, the actual parties in the Ricci v. DeStefano case prepared proposed orders for the District Court to use to implement the decision of the Supreme Court. You can download them here and here.
The parties will now brief two additional issues for the court’s review: (a) the scope and nature of damages to which Plaintiffs are entitled under Title VII, and (b) whether any counts remain for liability adjudication. The briefing of these issues will be completed in early January 2010.