Return to main website

Employees donned KKK hoods to taunt co-worker, lawsuit says

February 23, 2009

A federal discrimination lawsuit filed this month against the Lansing Board of Water & Light says two employees in November wore Ku Klux Klan-like hoods to apparently taunt a black co-worker.

 

That incident is one of several allegations made by Corey Clay in the lawsuit filed Feb. 9 in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. Clay, an electrical worker from Lansing who was hired in 2001, endured “a racially discriminating hostile work environment” for many years with little or no management response, according to the lawsuit.

 

BWL spokesman Mark Nixon said that after learning about the November incident, management took immediate action that resulted in “disciplinary action and the termination of a Board of Water & Light employee.”

 

Read Article: Detroit Free Press

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Attorneys inspect Itasca nursing home where patient wandered off, died

Inside the nursing station at The Arbor of Itasca is a handwritten note reminding staff that “if this buzzer sounds, staff must go out to the courtyard to check for a resident.”

“Obviously in this situation, that never happened, because had they done that they would have gone outside and seen that Sarah Wentworth’s body was in the courtyard,” said Louis Cairo, an attorney representing Wentworth’s family in a lawsuit against the nursing home.

As part of the suit filed last week, Cairo and other attorneys for the family on Friday conducted an inspection of the facility, where the 89-year-old Alzheimer’s patient died Feb. 5 after her frozen body was found outside.

The inspection, which involved taking photographs, video and measurements, came as prosecutors continued their own investigation of the facility. Neglect and obstruction of justice charges may be filed against as many as four employees as soon as next week, sources said.

 

Read Article: Chicago Tribune

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Wal-Mart to Pay $17.5 Million Racial Bias Settlement

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, will pay $17.5 million to settle a lawsuit claiming the company discriminated against African-Americans in recruiting and hiring truck drivers.

 

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by Daryal Nelson, who claimed he was rejected for a truck-driver position because of his race. Nelson filed the suit in federal court in Helena, Arkansas, on behalf of all black applicants who believe they were rejected or deterred from applying for the positions because of race. The lawsuit was given class-action, or group, status in May 2007.

 

Wal-Mart’s motions to dismiss the case or decertify the class were denied last month. The settlement, filed with the court today, averts a trial set to begin March 16. Wal-Mart denied it engaged in any pattern of wrongful discrimination.

 

Read Article: Bloomberg

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Jury clears Burlington eye surgeon

A Chittenden County jury has cleared former Burlington eye doctor David Chase of any wrongdoing in resolving a lawsuit filed by a former patient who claimed she underwent unnecessary cataract surgery in 2003.

Jurors determined Chase, 72, applied a reasonable standard of care, and Margaret McGowan of Essex Junction suffered no harm as a result of the doctor’s actions.

She sought $300,000 in compensatory damages and another $300,000 to $450,000 in punitive damages.

The eight men and four women of the jury discussed the case for nearly 11 hours: two hours Thursday night, and resuming at 9 a.m. today in Chittenden Superior Court.

The three-week trial represented the latest turn in legal proceedings against Chase, who once ran the largest ophthalmology practice in Vermont. The state suspended his medical license, and he shuttered his Burlington practice, in 2003 after allegations arose that he performed unnecessary cataract surgery on numerous patients.

 

Read Article: Burlington Free Press

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Tough Cases Await U.S. Supreme Court Justices

The U.S. Supreme Court returns this week after a monthlong break to what may be potentially the term’s most difficult and significant decisions affecting business, employees, the environment and civil rights.

 

The high court’s work thus far has produced no blockbusters, agree most Court watchers and litigators, but there have been important rulings in the areas of pre-emption — increasingly a concern of business and consumers — employment discrimination and criminal procedure.

 

The justices have heard arguments in 50 cases (counting consolidated cases as one) and have issued 15 signed merits decisions. They have also handed down six unsigned, per curiam rulings.

 

Read Article: Law.com

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Newer Posts »