If it says that in a legal document, the claimant needs a new lawyer.
I don’t understand. Do you manage a restaurant, or do you work at Corporate headuarters in the legal department managing discrimination lawsuits?
If it’s the former why are you involved in the entire company’s legal machinations? If it’s the latter, it seems ironic that you would have such trouble with discrimination in a department that’s supposed to mitigate it.
There’s a consistency issue here.
Are you a disgruntled french fry guy, a restaurant manager, or a corporate staff officer?
On a seperate not, I truly don’t know what you are trying to accomplish here. Nobody doubts that frivolous lawsuits on discrimination do occur.
Recognizing this has nothing to do with the larger issue of discrimination in general.
Regrettable and damaging actions by a member of any group are no justification for a general indictment of that group.
Black people piss you off, and you feel justified because you have reasons. That’s what I’m hearing.
I’ve done it, too (with the Amish, really.) It happens. Recognize it, deal with it, and move on with life.
I said questionable conduct, not illegal conduct. If your conduct is not questionable, you won’t get sued because people won’t be mad at you. People sue people who piss them off. If you don’t piss people off, they won’t sue you.
Surely that’s not the only count in the complaint. Serving a salad with a screw in it is a legal wrong, as I’m sure you know. It’s breach of warranty of fitness.
I would hazard to guess that what happened is your restaurant served a defective salad, the customer got understandably upset, and one of your more ill-mannered employees failed to treat the customer with a reasonable level of respect when she requested it replaced. If your employees had, instead, apologized, replaced the salad promptly – even if there wasn’t a screw in it – it’s extremely unlikely a suit would have been filed. Can you say, with absolute certainty, that this customer was not served a defective salad, and further that this customer was treated with respect and politeness?
Of course, I have no idea if a screw was actually served in the salad, but it’s little incidents like and how the restaurant handles them that differentiate good restaurants from bad.
And furthermore, who’s to say their waiter wasn’t a racist and did it for that very reason? Anything’s possible - it’s up to the courts to decide what actually happened.
Besides, when someone files a lawsuit, everything that could possibly be litigated is put in the intial complaint. Subsequent refinements lose all the chafe and get down to the wheat of the matter (as t’were).
Finally, a decent judge will be able to tell which claims are legitimate and which are spurious, so if it’s truly a frivolous lawsuit, it’ll get thrown out.
But, of course, let’s continue to assume the worst in everyone. Life is so much easier to live when you’re jaded… :rolleyes:
I have found that there are many things that can bring on a suit: pure fraud, the perception of being mistreated, and Actually being mistreated.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it is my job to protect corporate assets. So I am in a position that would lead me to be somewhat biased against those that file claims against us.
My only point is that not all discrimination is real. Much is perceived only. There is a real cost associated with anti discrimination laws. But I know that you guys are willing to take on the cost. I am less willing.
I never know what to make of cases with a bizarre foreign object. It is too easy to fake. I Uncoverd three serial frauds this year. but on the other hand, stuff does indeed get into food.
Considering that the law allows only for the recovery of the purchase price of the defective goods and for provable damages resulting from the foreign object, I don’t see how this is such a problem. Refunding the cost of a $2.49 salad isn’t going to bankrupt you (in fact, your managers should be doing that on the spot, without bothering with proof of the foreign object). And you’re not going to be facing awards for foreign objects without documentation of consequent injury. Courts almost never award emotional damages for foreign objects unless they’re really weird (like, severed human body parts) and are going to require proof beyond the plaintiff’s self-serving “it was there, I swear it.”
I wouldn’t say that pldennison. Since when is it right to reward or punish someone for what their ancestors did or did not do? If there are hardships being endured now, something should be done, but those examples of former generations do nothing to convince me that today’s generation is owed or owes.
I think that many people being fired are pissed off at their former employer. Which is why nearly all people being let go in my area are given “packages” of several months pay. Sometimes however, when there is obvious fault on the employee’s part a company may decide that they can actually fire someone (instead of “downstaffing” or “packaging” them). The anecdotal evidence I have seen leads me to believe that minorites have a much higher incidence of suing after being fired, which I think has more to do with the fact that many lawyers work on a contingency basis and there’s a possibility for some free money, than any real discrimination (that’s not to say that there isn’t any). Perhaps some cites will convince me otherwise.
My main point is that you can’t judge a company for being sued, becuase even the best of them will be sued by someone who thinks they might get a quick buck in a settlement.
My old neighborhood, Lakewood Ohio.
The mayor of Lakewood, Madelein Cain, is considering a law to punish criminals who target gays.
Under current city law, a crime that is a second degree misdemeanor becomes a first degree misdemenaor if there is a racial religious or ethnic motive. Cain and law director Spellacy are studying how the law could be changed.
Lakewood has one of the larger gay communities in ohio.
Of the nine hate crimes reported since 1999, two were against homosexuals. Both involved an Arthur Ave, house that was egged and had its rainbow gay pride flag stolen.
The ethnic intimidation law could become a hate-crime law that would include homosexuals, or a separate law addressing only sexual orientation.
Fine - not all lawsuits are legitimate. Not all defendants are innocent. Not all lawyers are in it for the common good. Not all plaintiffs’ motives are pure. The system ain’t perfect. Surprise, surprise.
