Neal v. James

Defendants, who include supervisors and the appointed corporation counsel for the city of Detroit’s legal department, appeal by leave granted the trial court’s order granting plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class composed of all African-American individuals who either held or sought employment with the city of Detroit’s law department from 1994 to 1999, for positions that required a law school education, including law clerks, legal interns, and lawyers. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

At issue in this case is whether the trial court erred in certifying a class action for legal…