Representative Cases

The following is a sample list and descriptions of recent cases litigated by ARH attorneys:

AMAE, et al. v. The State of California, et al., 937 F. Supp. 1397 (N.D. Cal. 1996) – affirmed en banc 231 F.3d 572 (9th Cir. 2000), Lawrence Ashe and Nancy Rafuse tried this class action to a successful defense judgment. The class was estimated to exceed 50,000 members in a challenge to the California Basic Educational Skills Test ("CBEST"). It is the largest employment class action of which we are aware to be tried to a successful defense result. On appeal to the Ninth Circuit, the panel affirmed the judgment for Defendants. That decision was upheld by the Ninth Circuit en banc.

NAACP, et al. v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., Civil Action No. 4:01 CV 325 HLM (N.D. Ga.) – Nancy Rafuse led the defense of this alleged customer race discrimination action in which we successfully defeated class certification (see Order of Oct. 2, 2002).

Reid, et al. v. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company - 205 F.R.D. 655 (N.D. Ga. 2001) – Nancy Rafuse and Dan Turner defended this alleged nationwide class action for alleged racial discrimination against African-American members of management. ARH successfully defeated the EEOC's motion to intervene and successfully defeated class certification in every respect.

Yarbrough, et al. v. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company - 205 F.R.D. 655 (N.D. Ga. 2001) – Nancy Rafuse and Dan Turner defended this alleged nationwide class action for claimed racial discrimination against African-American hourly workers. This was a companion case to Reid. We defeated the EEOC's motion to intervene and successfully defeated class certification in every respect.

Rhodes, et al. v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. - 213 F.R.D. 619 (N.D. Ga. March 7, 2003) – Lawrence Ashe and Nancy Rafuse were lead counsel in this alleged nationwide race discrimination action. On March 7, 2003, the District Court denied Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. The Eleventh Circuit denied Plaintiffs' Rule 23(f) petition.

Holt v. Rite Aid Corp., 333 F. Supp. 2d 1265 (M.D. Ala. 2004) – In this Section 216(b) collective action brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. challenging the classification status of Store Managers and Assistant Store Managers, Daniel Turner and Kalin Light successfully obtained denial of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Conditional Certification in its entirety.

Gutierrez, et al. v. Johnson & Johnson, 467 F. Supp. 2d 403 (D.N.J. 2006) - On behalf of Johnson & Johnson, Nancy Rafuse and Lawrence Ashe teamed with another firm to successfully defeat plaintiffs' attempt to certify a nationwide class of African-American and Hispanic employees alleging promotion and pay disparities.