James v. City of Dallas Texas

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Defendants-Appellants the City of Dallas, Texas and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development bring this interlocutory appeal, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), challenging the district court’s Rule 23(b)(2) certification of a “Race Discrimination Class” and a “Process Class” in a class action lawsuit involving alleged racially discriminatory demolition of repairable single-family homes without proper notice or judicial warrant. Because we determine that the named Plaintiffs do not have standing to seek the relief requested for the “Race Discrimination Class,” we VACATE the district court’s certification of that class and REMAND with instructions to dismiss all the Race Discrimination Class claims against the City and HUD and to dismiss HUD from the lawsuit. Because we determine that the named Plaintiffs do have standing to seek the relief requested for seven of their twelve Process Class claims against the City and we determine further that the district court did not abuse its discretion in certifying the “Process Class,” we AFFIRM AS MODIFIED the district court’s certification of that class. Finally, because we determine that the named Plaintiffs do not have standing to seek the relief requested for five of their Process Class claims, we REMAND with instructions to dismiss those claims.