Judge denies request for class-action status

Monday, Dec. 2, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

DETROIT -- A judge has denied a request by black MGM Grand Detroit Casino workers to grant class-action status to lawsuits that contend they were discriminated against by management.

Fifteen workers initiated the lawsuit in 2001, but it was expected that as many as 350 current and former MGM workers would join a class action, The Detroit News reported Sunday.

"The case, if certified as a class action, would degenerate into 350 individual trials," Wayne County Circuit Judge Susan Borman wrote in a 29-page opinion issued recently. "The class would not be manageable."

MGM's liability hinges on individual decisions by individual supervisors and "the unique circumstances surrounding those decisions," Borman wrote.

The ruling means the plaintiffs might have to pursue their cases individually in court, said the plaintiffs' lawyer Lynn Shecter, who has filed a motion asking Borman to reconsider her decision.

"We have people with viable lawsuits," Shecter said. "More than 100 people have retained this law firm."