Civil rights suit vs. Dillard's revived

Civil rights suit vs. Dillard's revived

	Published : Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:12 By : Agencies Print this Story

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that there is enough evidence for a jury trial in a lawsuit filed by a black couple who say they suffered racial discrimination at a Dillard's department store.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a federal district court erred when it threw out Rodney and Charlan Green's civil rights case at the request of Little Rock, Ark.-based Dillard's Inc.

The panel sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., saying the Greens had provided enough evidence to let a jury decide whether Dillard's was aware of a clerk's 'racially hostile propensities' and failed to stop them.

'In this case, the Greens have produced evidence that goes beyond bad manners, isolated rudeness, or neglect of a customer,' the appeals panel wrote. 'Their evidence includes not only a most egregious racial slur, but also a series of actions which a trier of fact could find as a whole thwarted their attempt to make and close a contract with Dillard's for the wristwatch.'

Neither the attorney for Dillard's nor a spokeswoman for the company returned calls Thursday seeking comment.

In August 2002, the Greens went to a Dillard's store in Kansas City to buy a handbag, purse and watch, according to court records.

They asked a clerk to help them, but she refused and then followed the Greens, glared at them and muttered something under her breath, records say. When they made a $500 purchase from a different clerk, the first clerk questioned their ability to pay for it.

According to documents, Rodney Green asked the clerk to leave them alone, then asked the other clerk to call the manager. While Green waited for his wife to purchase a watch, the clerk used a racial epithet and walked away, the documents say.

After the manager arrived, the Greens returned their just-purchased items.

Records indicate that the manager said the store had had past problems with the clerk, who was fired the next day.

The Greens sued Dillard's two years later, alleging the company had violated their right to 'make and enforce contracts,' a civil rights protection adopted shortly after the Civil War and amended in 1991. In the Greens' case, that right was in the context of a retail purchase, said their attorney, Cheryl Pilate.

The Greens produced evidence that the clerk had been disciplined for rudeness to previous customers, and testimony that Dillard's couldn't say how it was trying to prevent discrimination in the future.

Dillard's had asked the district court to throw out the case, arguing that the Greens had made a purchase before the clerk used the racial epithet, and that there was no evidence Dillard's intended to discriminate against them. The company also argued that other employees were willing to help the Greens, and that the store can't be held responsible for one clerk's actions.