Gulf Oil Co. v. Bernard

452 U.S. 89 (1981)

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Gulf Oil Co. v. Bernard

United States Supreme Court
452 U.S. 89 (1981)

Facts

A class action was filed on behalf of employees (plaintiffs) against Gulf Oil Company (Gulf) (defendant) for employment discrimination. Before the action was filed, Gulf entered a consent decree with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to offer backpay to impacted employees to settle their discrimination claims. After the class action was filed and before class certification, Gulf ceased sending settlement offers to putative class members, but the employees’ counsel met with absent potential class members and recommended they not settle with Gulf. Gulf petitioned the court for an order to limit the employees’ counsel from communicating with potential class members. Citing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(d), the district court granted the motion and issued an order that generally limited contact between the employees’ counsel and potential class members. The district court did not explain its decision. The employees appealed and argued that they needed class counsel to communicate with the potential class members to get important information about the case and to inform class members about their rights, and that the order violated their First Amendment rights. A divided panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the order, but the full court, sitting en banc, reversed. The employees filed and were granted a writ of certiorari.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Powell, J.)

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