Judge agrees to Wal-Mart’s offer to drivers

By Linda Satter –Arkansas Democrat Gazette

LITTLE ROCK — A federal judge in Little Rock gave his preliminary approval Wednesday to a joint plan to settle a national class-action lawsuit filed in 2004 by black truck drivers against Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The civil-rights lawsuit, which had been scheduled for trial next month, alleged that the application and hiring practices employed by the nation’s largest retailer had the effect of preventing many black drivers from getting those jobs, or in many cases even knowing that the jobs were available.

By applying his signature Wednesday to a 54-page proposed settlement agreement, which was filed Friday, U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson Jr. allowed attorneys to immediately retain a claims administrator, Russ Consulting Inc. of Minneapolis, which will begin notifying and identifying potential class members.

Wal-Mart has agreed to pay$17.5 million that will be divided among less than 10,000 class members.

The class consists of the following sub-classes: Blacks residing in the continental United States who, on or after June 22, 2001, applied to be over-the-road truck drivers for Wal-Mart and weren’t hired, or who, on or after Sept. 22, 2001, received a notice of rejection for such a position; and Blacks residing in the continental United States who, on or after Sept. 22, 2001, were deterred or thwarted from applying for the positions due to the challenged policies and practices.

While Wal-Mart has supplied plaintiffs’ attorneys with names and addresses for members of the first subclass, plans for identifying and notifying members of the second subclass include publishing notices in Jet magazine and three trucking magazines, and running ads on certain urban radio stations.

The advertisements are set to come out about 60 days before the May 25 deadline that Wilson set for claim forms to be returned.

The administrator will review claim forms to decide which would-be claimants qualify as class members.

The class representatives for applicants who were rejected are the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Daryal Nelson of Coldwater, Miss., and Tommy Armstrong of Patterson in Woodruff County.  Wilson said that an Arkansas truck driver, Howard Gurley, will represent the group that was thwarted or deterred from applying for driving jobs.

Armstrong and Nelson will each receive $40,000 for being class representatives, and Gurley will receive $5,000.

In approving the proposed settlement, Wilson also approved a series of notices that will be sent to known class members and used in advertisements.

At a final fairness hearing on June 30, Wilson will consider any objections to the agreement.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs are Hank Bates of Cauley Bowman Carney & Williams in Little Rock; John W. Walker and Shawn Childs of the Walker firm in Little Rock; and Morgan “Chip” Welch and Lloyd “Tre” Kitchens of Welch, Brewer and Hudson in North Little Rock.

Representing Wal-Mart and its transportation division are attorneys Phil Kaplan of Little Rock, and attorneys Lawrence DiNardo, Michael J. Gray and Kathryn Stieber of Chicago.

This article was published Thursday, February 26, 2009.
Business, Pages 27, 28 on 02/26/2009