Youngblood V. Dalzell

Plaintiffs Youngblood and Nichols are two representatives of a class consisting of black applicants for employment with and black employees of the City of Cincinnati Department of Safety, Division of Fire. Several other individual applicants also appeal from the district court's order terminating its jurisdiction over the enforcement of the consent decree entered in 1974 in settlement of a racial discrimination action. Although sympathetic to the district court's concern that the case not remain open indefinitely, we hold that the district court's order did not adequately address the specific terms of the consent decree governing closure of the case. We also hold that the district court improperly closed the case without addressing the plaintiffs' pending motion for enforcement.