Berger & Montague, P.C. successfully represented a class of
over 3,000 current and former African-American employees of the
Eastman Kodak Company in their Title VII race discrimination
claims. Plaintiffs alleged that Kodak discriminated against
African-American employees in their employment, including with
respect to pay, promotions, performance appraisals, initial job
assignments, and layoffs, the creation of a racially hostile work
environment and retaliation when African-American employees
complained about racial discrimination.
After five years of hotly contested litigation, the parties
reached a settlement for payment in the amount of
$21,376,500.00. In addition to monetary consideration, the
settlement also provides for extensive non-monetary relief over a
four-year term, which includes agreement that Kodak will maintain
and enforce non-discrimination and anti retaliation policies,
retain personnel to review and study its employment policies and
practices, and develop further enhancements to its existing equal
opportunity and diversity training.
On September 3, 2010, the Court granted final approval to the
class action settlement. On November 24, 2010, the Claims
Administrator mailed payments to all class members.
In granting approval to the terms of the settlement, the Court
described Plaintiffs' counsels' conduct as follows:
In my fifteen
years on the bench, no case has been litigated with more skill,
tenacity and legal professionalism than this case. The
clients, corporate and individual, should be proud of the manner in
which their legal interests were brought before and presented to
the Court by their lawyers and law firms.
... the Court
would be remiss if it did not commend class counsel and all those
who worked for firms representing the thousands of current and
former employees of Kodak for the outstanding job they did in
representing the interests of their clients. For the last
several years, lead counsel responsibilities were shared by Shanon
Carson and Bruce Gerstein. Their legal work in an
extraordinarily complex case was exemplary, their tireless
commitment to seeking justice for their clients was unparalleled
and their conduct as officers of the court was beyond
reproach.
The cases are Davis v. Eastman Kodak Company,
6:04-cv-6098-JWF (W.D.N.Y.) and Alston v. Eastman Kodak
Company, 6:07-cv-6512-JWF (W.D.N.Y.)
For questions about this case against Eastman Kodak Company,
please contact Shanon J. Carson at (215) 875 4656 or by email at scarson@bm.net. Further
information about this case can also be obtained at www.kodakdiscrimination.com.
The following documents are available for review: