Shimkus v. Gersten Co.

Robert Shimkus (plaintiff) filed a class-action lawsuit against Gersten Companies (defendant), a private property-management business alleging Title VII race discrimination against Black applicants in selecting tenants at six of its apartment complexes. A week later, the United States filed a similar action against Gersten on behalf of Black applicants and other minorities. The two cases were before the same judge, but they were not consolidated. In January 1984, the court entered a consent decree between the government and Gersten enjoining Gersten from discriminating against any person because of race, color, or national origin and identifying approximately 100 housing applicants who were to receive priority status for the next available apartment units. The plaintiffs in the Shimkus action were not parties to the order. In February 1985, the plaintiffs in the Shimkus action and Gersten agreed to a consent decree that would enjoin Gersten from discriminating against any Black applicant because of race and to give Black applicants preferential consideration at the six apartment complexes. The decree also required Gersten to achieve a certain percentage of Black residents at those complexes. The court, after allowing the government to intervene and object, approved the decree. The government appealed, contending that the decree in the Shimkus case was improper because it conflicted with and, in effect, modified the decree in the government’s action. The government specifically argued that the decree grants the Black plaintiffs preferential relief at the expense of non-Black minorities covered in the decree in the government’s case, which covered all minorities.