Walgreens Cleared In Discrimination Suit

$2.5 Million Civil Lawsuit Was Brought By 4 Black Texas Men

(AP)  A jury Tuesday cleared Walgreen Co. of racial discrimination alleged in a $2.5 million civil lawsuit brought by four black Texas men who say they were wronged in a confrontation at a Reno drug store four years ago.

The six-woman, two-man jury in Washoe County District Court deliberated less than an hour after listening to seven days of testimony.

The unanimous verdict capped a dramatic trial that saw the judge repeatedly admonish both legal teams and the lead plaintiff, Bruce Johnson, 44, of Houston, taken from the courthouse by ambulance last week when he suffered an asthma attack after aggressive cross-examination.

In their lawsuit, the four men claimed that a photo lab clerk shouted a racial slur, slammed a door and denied them service after they complained about the quality of their photographs at the downtown Reno store in February 2003.

Walgreens' lawyers acknowledged the clerk slammed a door and walked off the job but denied the clerk uttered the n-word and maintained the incident was a case of poor customer service absent any racial bias.

"Obviously, we're pleased with the verdict," said Howard Rosenblum, a lawyer for Walgreens.

"We take allegations such as this very seriously," he said. "Walgreens has said all along we don't tolerate discrimination of any sort. ... It's good to see the system work."

A lawyer for the plaintiffs said they would appeal the case to the Nevada Supreme Court.

"We're not done," Ian Silverberg told The Associated Press. He said the appeal would challenge some rulings "that kept out a lot of information that I think should have gone to the jury about what Walgreens knew" about the clerk accused of the misconduct.

Silverberg said in closing arguments Tuesday morning that the men deserved millions but would accept just $1 as justice served.

"It was wrong for Walgreens to treat these men differently for one reason and one reason only — the color of their skin," Silverberg said.

"These men stood up against the 14th-largest company in the U.S. for four years to let Walgreens know they were not going to take it," he told the jury. "Please let Walgreens know there is no more harmful word with such history and meaning for an entire group of people."

But a lawyer for the company, Clark Vellis, said the four men were "professional victims" looking to "turn justice into money." He urged the jurors to base their verdict on facts, "not sympathy or inflammatory statements about the Ku Klux Klan."

"Every time somebody has a bad experience, you can't sue. Every time somebody does something you don't like, you can't sue and try to turn it into money," Vellis said in his closing argument.

Judge Janet Berry told the jury before they began deliberations that in order to award damages to the men they must prove they suffered "monetarily compensable physical or emotional injuries" as a result of Walgreens engaging in "extreme and outrageous conduct considered in a civilized society to be atrocious and utterly intolerable."

That conduct does not include such things as insults, threats, indignation or petty trivialities, she said.

Johnson, a gospel singer, said pursuit of justice in the case became his calling and he launched a Web site, stopalldiscrimination.com, to help others facing a similar plight.

After the incident, the company refused the Texas men's demand to fire the clerk, Richard Scott McCord, and instead issued a reprimand.

"The fact the n-word was used makes it more clear that race is the reason Mr. McCord acted the way he did. But even without that slur, there's still a violation," Silverberg said.

"Even if he didn't use the n-word, can you believe keeping someone on in a customer service business after behaving the way he did?" he asked.

[ramon73-2009]

You are exactly right...

[slockwood4]

It is not ok to call someone a name that is derogatory whether any person uses it or not. I don't care if you are black or white. Rap music is also very derogatory to women as well. The people who write these songs with derogatory language have no respect for women or blacks.

[ramon73-2009]

To cdegolier,
Noone knows what happened in the Walgreens. However, there must have been something said that was derrogatory. "Why would they go this far?" Also, I do not listen to rap music that display African Americans in a negative light. It seems as though you are defending this clerk. Only the clerk and those men know what happened that day. I have experienced racism in my lifetime and it is very hard to defend yourself when noone is around to witness the racism. Its not ok to call someone a name that is derrogatory regardless whether black people use the word or not.

[padams1010]

You just have to go to this Johnson's web page(stopalldiscrimination.net). My word ... I was hard pressed to decide if he was even an American much less an African American. His language skills are nill, not to mention his spelling. If he wants to stop some discrimination ... learn to communicate in the American English language. I feel certain he went to public school. What's up with that??

[cdegolier]

ramon73 have you listened to any rap musice lately every other word is the n-word. So you can't tell me these me have never heard it before.

I have worked in retail and I am not defending the clerk whether or not the n-word was used. But customer service has gone down because the customers are becoming increasingly rude and down right mean. I have been and seen employees being cursed and yelled at to the point where the customer was escorted out of the store.

Fact is the men probably did make a seen and the clerk chose to leave rather than deal with them. They where not in anyway tramatized by this ordeal they simply wanted to make a buck.

[ramon73-2009]

Obviously, most of these comments are written by Caucasion people. My comment is to NightAire. I do not use the N-word in my vocabulary. Furthermore, how do yo know that these black men in the Walgreens lawsuit use the N-word among themselves. This word shouldn't be in anyone's vocabulary. You should not generalize and say that all Black people use the N-word among themselves. After all this word was made up by white people. Also, why would any white person call any black person the N-word, regardless if they think that Black people use it or not.

[bigwhtpony]

It's "da man" keeping us down!! Wonder if we'll have rioting in LA over the verdict?

[padams1010]

My Dad (who just passed away at the age of 83) was the least prejudice man I know. He had 100s of friends from every race, color, and creed. He generally loved people ... which made him a very successful car salesman (retiring at age 79). He was always vexed by the fact younger black people think the n-word has always had a bad connotation. Of course, he felt sure the movie industry and TV programming have done their part to reinforce the notion over the years. He said when he was growing up in the South ... that is what they were called ... just like today they are called 'black'. What's to say some future generation of black youngsters won't find 'black' offensive. But ... he did understand a little bit about their feelings of prejudice ... after all ... he was a car salesman. Pray for our troops!!

[themartyred]

black men, predominently, need to stop calling each other "*****" and be taught by their elders at a young age, any variation away from Negro, is racial.

I'm sorry for the men if they were called the N word with the -er version, much like I feel for gay people when they are called the F word with the -ot on the end.

RAISE YOUR KIDS TO RESPECT OTHERS DIFFERENCES IS THE LESSON

It appears to me these men don't have any white friends; customer service STINKS in almost every business, towards every age, gender, and race. Based on my experience, trust me... you WEREN'T singled out.

This is a free country; speak with your feet! If you don't like the service, go somewhere else. If they screw enough people who walk, they'll go out of business.

Problem solved, and no lawsuit.

Oh, and if being called the n-word is "extreme and outrageous conduct considered in a civilized society to be atrocious and utterly intolerable" in your world... you need to get out more. This is an incredibly cruel society, and just walking down the street or in a store I hear language regularly which makes my ears burn.

When blacks stop calling THEMSELVES the n-word, I may have a little more sympathy... but you can't have it both ways. Either it is a word which noone can utter, or it is a term of endearment... it can NOT be both.

[annd2302]

Why no comments, an apple is an apple, so................