A lawsuit that claims a former NBA All-Star and an Atlanta lawyer were kicked out of a local restaurant because they were black should go to trial, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. Magistrate Janet King last week rejected requests by the Tavern at Phipps to dismiss accusations that the restaurant violated civil rights public accommodation laws against former basketball player Joe Barry Carroll and attorney Joseph Shaw. At the same time, King criticized the plaintiffs for making unsubstantiated allegations in their legal briefs and dismissed two legal claims pursued by Carroll in the litigation.
Gerry Weber, one of Carroll's attorneys, said he was satisfied with King's recommendation, which now goes to U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash.
"The judge's order confirms what we've said all along -- that the Tavern has an ingrained practice of discrimination against African-Americans," Weber said. "The judge recognized that discrimination in restaurants today is more subtle than the lunch-counter cases of the '60s, but just as wrong."
Simon Bloom III, outside general counsel for the Tavern's management company, said the restaurant did not agree with all of King's decision. He was pleased King dismissed Carroll's claims of misconduct and emotional distress.
"You've got two plaintiffs who threw a bunch of 'stuff' on the wall and a diligent judge who concluded a lot of it didn't stick, and saw they made baseless allegations that lacked competent evidence," Bloom said.
As for the Tavern's business practices, Bloom added, "It always has been colorblind and always will be colorblind and we look forward to a jury vindicating that."
On Aug. 11, 2006, Carroll, the former top pick of the 1980 NBA draft and now an investment adviser, met Shaw at the Tavern's bar and ordered drinks and appetizers. Two white women walked up to the bar and members of the Tavern's management asked Carroll and Shaw to give up their seats to the female patrons. Even though they were offered a free round of drinks to move, Carroll and Shaw declined, saying they were not ready to leave.
The Tavern's operating partner, Heather Dennis, called an off-duty Atlanta police officer who provided security and had Carroll and Shaw escorted out of the restaurant.
In her order, King found there was no direct evidence of racial discrimination. But she did find enough circumstantial evidence to let a jury decide whether racial animosity was the Tavern's motivation to remove Carroll and Shaw from the restaurant.
King cited testimony by a former employee who said she had been told by management that the Tavern's desired clientele for the bar were white businessmen and buxom, blonde women. Dennis, during pretrial testimony, said management wanted "generally white, more white people" at the restaurant's bar, the judge noted.
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