General Telephone Co. v. Falcon

Falcon (plaintiff) sued General Telephone (defendant) under Title VII after being denied a promotion, seeking certification of a class covering both current Mexican-American employees and rejected applicants under an across-the-board theory of discrimination, and the district court certified the class without a hearing. At trial, the court found Falcon himself was discriminated against in promotion but not hiring, while finding the class as a whole was discriminated against in hiring but not promotion -- an inconsistency reflecting the mismatch between Falcon's individual claim and the class he represented; both sides appealed, and the Fifth Circuit remanded before the Supreme Court granted certiorari.