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REPORT ON PERCY ACTION CLASS LITIGATION

My name is Jim Kernan. I am the attorney for the Percy Class.

I was retained by Albert Percy, the Class Representative appointed by the federal court. The Percy Class is certified by the federal court as a class composed of black or Spanish-surnamed persons who are capable of performing highly skilled work or learning to become highly skilled, and are ready, willing and able to work, learn and earn. If you were so in the past, you may be entitled to compensation and relief as a member of the Percy Class entitled to compensation for lost wages and lost job opportunities, and relief through the enforcement of a demonstrated alternative employment practice. The proposed enforcement class lawsuit is the Percy Class Action.

What is the Percy Class asking for?

To recover monetary damages arising out of the failed Settlement in Percy v. Brennan, Case 73-cv-04279, reported at 384 F Supp 800 (S.D.N.Y. 1974), a case for affirmative action apprenticeship and employment filed by the Percy Class, which failure continues to this day. The books of the New York Rules and Regulations will show that the State of New York offered to settle the case with the Percy Class by the issuance of Governor’s Executive Order 45. However, the courts later declared Executive Order 45 as illegal and unenforceable. Thus, the court decisions in favor of the Percy Class remain unenforced and members of the Percy Class have yet to be compensated for damages.

Damages recoverable by enforcing past court decisions in favor of the Percy Class

There is a need for the Percy Class to pursue legal action by demanding compensation for damages to enforce past court decisions in favor of the Percy Class, namely, the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Order in Percy v. Brennan, Case 73-cv-04279, reported at 384 F Supp 800 (S.D.N.Y. 1974), rendered by Judge Lasker on November 8, 1974, and the Settlement of Percy v. Brennan in Judge Edelstein’s Order of May 4, 1977 (the “Settlement”).

Lincoln’s real-world view about reparation

This is the modern day pursuit of President Lincoln’s real-world view about reparation: he saw equality as a right, an equal opportunity for a person to pursue his dreams and goals. Reparations was envisioned by Lincoln on April 16, 1865, his last speech where he said three times his vision about paid apprenticeship for freed-people. His 10-minute speech of only 1819 words, introducing the complex topic of reconstruction, twice identified paid apprenticeship for freed-people as a means to survive and prosper as viewed through the prism of the close of the Civil War. Reporter Brooks wrote that an incensed John Wilkes Booth, a member of the audience that evening on April 11, 1865, vowed: “That is the last speech he will make.” Booth, an acknowledged white supremacist according to Brooks, made good on his threat. The assassination of Lincoln by Booth three days after this speech frustrated the proposed reconstruction opportunities and “apprenticeship for freed-people” was a vision not spoken of again since April 11, 1865. Instead, Lincoln’s nightmare of disaster and misery came true with lynchings, massacres, and the anarchy of Reconstruction followed by the Jim Crow laws of segregation and discrimination.

Landmark case of Percy v. Brennan

In the landmark case of Percy v. Brennan, Mr. Albert E. Percy won the right for unskilled workers to receive paid on-the-job apprentices training so they could benefit from good jobs while enjoying the pride, freedom and liberty to compete for jobs and careers based on skills and merit, not because of the segregating criteria of skin color or ethnicity perpetuating unequal treatment and denying the right of equal protection of the laws.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act at 42 U.S.C. 2000 e-2

An employer is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-2) if (a) he has engaged in a particular employment practice that has caused a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and (b) has refused to adopt alternative employment practices which the complaining parties have demonstrated to him to be available to address such disparate impact. Thus, a business can be liable under the above law for disparate-impact discrimination for refusing to adopt alternative employment practices in lieu of those that have caused a disparate impact on persons of a certain color, race, religion, sex, or national origin.

The Percy Class will show that the employers of the members of the class have refused to adopt an alternative employment practice which had been demonstrated to them to address the disparate impact found by the courts to exist in Percy v. Brennan before seeking relief under the Civil Rights Act Title VII (42 U.S.C. 2000 e-2). Rather than continue Percy v. Brennan in federal court which has limited federal jurisdiction, the Percy Class will seek relief in the state courts of New York. Fortunately, the dismissal of the federal actions under Rule 41b does not preclude the bringing of the actions in state court.

Jurisdiction to enforce the Settlement in Percy v. Brennan

The appropriate legal actions to enforce the Settlement in Percy v. Brennan are under the general jurisdiction of New York State Supreme Court and the New York State Court of Claims because the Settlement now involves the enforcement of rights arising from breach of contract under state contract law which must be brought in state court.

Notice of intent to file a claim on behalf of the Percy Class

I will be providing you with a draft of the notice of intent to file a claim on behalf of the Percy Class against the State of New York to seek damages due to lost wages and lost opportunities, and relief for the enforcement of a demonstrated alternative employment practice.

The case file in Percy v. Brennan was thankfully archived in St. Louis, Missouri as a matter of potential national significance and was returned to the National Archives in New York City upon the request of Mr. Percy.

Now, we need to revisit the enforcement of the failed Settlement in Percy v. Brennan.

Settlement failure caused by the State of New York

The Settlement failure caused by the State of New York’s actions or failure to act was compounded by the state’s blunder in failing to notify the court and the Percy Class of the failure of the Settlement. New York State then actively continued to interfere. The State of New York has caused and continues to cause injury and damage to the Percy Class. Although the Settlement provided to the Percy Class failed, it continues to remain on paper in the regulations of the State of New York and is uniformly ignored.

Members of the Percy Class need to be identified

Now more than ever, the members of the Percy Class need to be identified. You are the core. Mr. Albert Percy has retained me to enforce the settlement. I must identify who the members of the Percy Class are. Please respond by acknowledging receipt of the email that we will send to you soon so that you can be maintained as a member of the Percy Class entitled to relief. Please distribute this by social media (Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, email, oral communication, or old-fashioned snail mail) to black or Spanish surnamed persons whom you believe to be potential members of the Percy Class.

If there isn’t an identifiable community of black and Spanish surnamed persons brave enough to opt into the Percy Class, then for what purpose should this continue?

Community of support for the Percy Class

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem continuing. Yet there must be a viable community of support for the Percy Class to make the journey worthwhile.

I hope that the Percy Class becomes organized as a social force to finally obtain relief from the State of New York by the enforcement of the Settlement in Percy v. Brennan.

Pres. Lyndon Johnson, when speaking in 1965 about the adoption of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

After 49 years, the Percy Class continues to seek affirmative action to develop skills, courage and confidence to compete, “not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and a result,” as Pres. Lyndon Johnson eloquently stated in his 1965 commencement speech at Howard University when speaking about the adoption of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. President Johnson declared that equality has to be actual equality, not equality in name, when he said:

“You do not take a man who, for years has been hobbled by chains, liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, saying you are free to compete with all the others, and still justly believe you have been completely fair. Thus, it is not enough to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity–not just legal equity but human ability–not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and a result.”

As a member of the Percy Class entitled to share in recovery

If you’re watching this on YouTube, please subscribe to be recognized as a member of the Percy Class entitled to share in recovery as this matter proceeds. Please use the email address you would like us to use to communicate with you on the progress of the Percy Class Action by subscribing or responding to info@percyclass.com.

You can go to www.PercyClass.com to contact us. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Email responses will be included in testimonials at the percyclass.com website. Please help the Percy Class by emailing your testimony. The Percy Class is trending as #Reparations.

God speed, take care and be safe.