CERJANEC v. FCA US LLC

Filing 85

ORDER granting in part and denying in part 80 Motion to Strike; and Directing Plaintiff to submit supplemental briefing on or before June 17, 2019. Signed by District Judge Laurie J. Michelson. (WBar)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION
DAN CERJANEC, RODRIGO BRAVO,
MARK MODLIN, and WILLIAM
WINFREY, on behalf of themselves and all
others similarly situated;

Case No. 17-10619
Honorable Laurie J. Michelson

Plaintiffs,
v.
FCA US, LLC,
Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT’S
MOTION TO STRIKE [80]
Named Plaintiffs are current and former employees of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).
They allege that an employee-evaluation policy has a disparate impact on employees aged 55 and
older. As a result of this policy, Plaintiffs, and others like them, allegedly received lower evaluation
scores which resulted in missed career advancements, bonuses, placement on probation, and, in
some cases, termination. Plaintiffs additionally bring individual claims of intentional age
discrimination.
Plaintiffs now move to conditionally certify the ADEA collective action. (ECF No. 41.)
The motion to conditionally certify is fully briefed (ECF Nos. 41, 66, 78) and the Court held a
hearing on the motion on June 7, 2019.
FCA also moves to strike all reference to certain documents it alleges that Marlin Williams,
a former Plaintiff in a similar case brought by the same attorneys involving African-American
employees, improperly took documents after she resigned from FCA. (ECF No. 80.) It also seeks
to preclude Plaintiffs from relying on the information contained in these documents, to require

Plaintiffs’ counsel to provide an accounting and return of all documents Marlin Williams shared
with Plaintiffs’ counsel, and to require Plaintiffs’ counsel to provide an accounting of every person
with whom they shared these documents and information. (Id.)
This motion is also fully briefed (ECF No. 80, 81, 82) and the Court held a hearing on the
motion on June 7, 2019.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, for the reasons set forth more fully on the record in the Court’s
oral ruling, that:


Defendant’s motion to strike (ECF No. 80) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED
IN PART:
o Plaintiffs shall return all materials to FCA that have not otherwise been
turned over that are alleged to be confidential, proprietary, or contain trade
secrets.
o Plaintiffs are also to provide an accounting to FCA identifying everyone
with whom Plaintiffs have shared information contained in the documents
as well as the documents themselves.
o Nothing will be stricken from the complaint.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT Plaintiffs have until June 17, 2019 to submit
supplemental briefing to address the ADEA statute of limitations issues raised in the hearing with
respect to the motion for conditional certification. The briefing shall be no more than five pages
and citations should not be in footnotes. Defendant shall submit any response—with the same page
and footnote limitations—within five days of Plaintiffs’ submission.
s/Laurie J. Michelson
LAURIE J. MICHELSON
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Date: June 10, 2019
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
The undersigned certifies that a copy of the foregoing document was served on the
attorneys and/or parties of record by electronic means or U.S. Mail on June 10, 2019.
s/William Barkholz
Case Manager to
Honorable Laurie J. Michelson

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