The Godfrey class action was filed in federal court in Chicago by Goldstein Borgen Dardarian & Ho, along with Chicago attorneys Marni Willenson and Susan Malone, on October 12, 2012, on behalf of the approximately 60 African American female applicants for Firefighter/EMT positions who were forced to take an old fashioned physical abilities test (“PAT”) as part of the Injunctive Relief ordered after the landmark Lewis v. City of Chicago case was returned to the trial court after plaintiffs’ victory in the U.S. Supreme Court. Of the 111 African Americans hired as part of the Lewis litigation, only two (2) were women as the PAT effectively excluded them from participation in the hiring process.

Case Update:

Preliminary Approval was granted on December 18, 2014, for a class action settlement that provides for make whole instatement relief or cash payments for those class members not hired.  Class notices were mailed on January 2, 2015, and were also published in The Chicago Tribune.  Final Approval was granted on March 26, 2015, in federal court in Chicago.  Thirteen (13) women succeeded in joining the Chicago Fire Department and millions of dollars of pension relief and back pay were obtained for the class.