Jury returns defense verdict on 9/11/03 in Muslim-American’s discrimination suit
Law.com carries an article by Shannon Lafferty entitled “Jury Rejects Bias Suit by Muslim Executive.”
A federal jury returned a defense verdict Thursday (9/11/03) in less than two hours. The plaintiff, a Lebanese-American, said he was questioned about his faith and ethnicity at a dinner party by the company’s chairman and founder and later ordered to do things that would sabotage an important business deal, forcing him to quit.
But the company argued he quit because he couldn’t structure the deal in a way that would personally benefit him.
“Afterward, jurors said that they saw this as a management tiff over a business transaction. ‘I think it was a business deal,’ said juror Margaret Santiago. ‘I don’t think he was discriminated against.’ ‘ They just didn’t tie enough pieces together to see it as discrimination,’ said jury forewoman Julie McGowan.”
I wonder how much the defense was helped by the 9/11 anniversary, serving as a reminder of the atmosphere in the country when the dinner party questions occurred?
