The class for a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago was decertified this month, leaving plaintiffs to look for their own attorneys if they so choose.
Edward Stein, the Chicago attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of 14 named plaintiffs in 1998, said the class represented more than 600 former employees of the Chicago Fed. The suit, which sought tens of millions of dollars in damages, alleges that the Chicago Fed has a longstanding practice of excluding African-Americans from promotions to managerial jobs. The Fed denies the allegations.
Stein has been trying to withdraw from the case since last fall, citing financial burdens. He estimates he has advanced more than half a million dollars in litigation costs and time for the named plaintiffs, who he said have not paid fees according to a contract.
By decertifying the class, U.S. District Court Judge William Hibbler has freed all the plaintiffs to look for their own lawyers if they want to, Stein said.
In his order, Hibbler writes that the named plaintiffs probably have had trouble finding new counsel because of their lack of funds to pay for an attorney’s services. “Therefore, to protect the rights of the individual class members, this court is left with no other choice but to decertify the class,” he wrote.
The decision came in response to a motion by Fed attorneys to decertify the class because neither the named plaintiffs nor their counsel are “adequate” class representatives.
Barrier to checking: One of the biggest hurdles for low-income consumers trying to open checking accounts are the minimum opening deposits at many banks.
A recent study by the economic development think tank Woodstock Institute found that most of the 75 Chicago-area banks surveyed required a deposit of at least $100 to open their lowest-cost checking accounts.
That amount is prohibitive for many lower-income consumers, Woodstock officials said. There were exceptions, including Bank One, with a minimum opening deposit of $10. State Farm Savings also has a $10 minimum opening deposit, but most of its transactions take place over the Internet or through ATMs, which can be problematic for poorer people.
The survey found that banking costs less than non-bank check-cashing services. Most of the banks surveyed charge less than $4 a month, and more than half offer free checking products. But some banks charge up to $12.
Bank notes: Compensation for chief executives at the nation’s 100 largest banks and thrifts shows little relationship to their banks’ performance, according to a study by SNL Financial. The median total compensation for CEOs at those institutions grew 22 percent in 2001, while the return on average equity rose only slightly, to 14.82 percent from 14.78 percent.
– Most U.S. consumers are not influenced by reward programs when deciding whether to pay for purchases with credit cards, cash or checks, according to the Cambridge Consumer Credit Index. About 76 percent of survey respondents said they are not swayed by rewards. In fact, 63 percent of the more than 1,000 people polled did not even have reward-bearing credit cards.