Following a ruling in Dickerson in 1976 that excluded those who had applied unsuccessfully to U.S. Steel from the lawsuit, we brought a second class action to stop discrimination in initial hires. Through our EEOC-supported Employment Referral Project, the case was given to Richard Z. Freemann, Jr. – now a member of the Law Center’s Advisory Board – who led a team at the law firm Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll that tried the claim.

Mr. Freeman and the team secured a 1983 District Court ruling that U.S. Steel had discriminated illegally against minority job applicants, and an award for the plaintiffs of $42.5 million. The verdict was upheld on appeal in the Third Circuit Court.