Name: ___________________________
Title of Article: __ Denver jury awards nearly $15 million in racial discrimination case
Author of Article: Kirk Mitchell.
Date: Feb 11, 2015
Period: _______
List what you already know about the topic. If nothing, state what you want to learn about the
topic. List your comments/opinion about the topic.
I did not know anything about this particular case, but I did know that racial discrimination is
illegal in business and that people may sue their companies if they are treated in a discriminatory
manner. Also people who complain about unfair working practices are protected against
retaliation for telling the authorities about those unfair practices.
Main Idea:
The main idea of the article is that 7 employees of Matheson Trucking and Matheson Flight
Extenders Inc filed a racial discrimination case against those companies in federal court in
Colorado for treating them differently than white workers by among other things not giving them
the same overtime opportunities as their white co-workers, and a jury awarded them $15 million
in damages of which about $14 million were punitive damages.
List supporting details:
1. The plaintiffs sued the 2 defendant companies for racial discrimination due to the
practices of segregating workers by race, calling blacks "lazy, stupid Africans" and
punishing those who complained.
2. Six of the plaintiffs are black, many from Mali. One plaintiff is a white whistle-blower
who was fired for challenging racist practices of the California-based company
3. The verdict against Matheson Trucking and Matheson Flight Extenders Inc. included $14
million in punitive damages
4. The judgment included $318,000 of back pay for employees who were fired, furloughed
or had their hours cut because of their race. An additional $650,000 was awarded for
emotional distress. Also, Matheson probably will have to pay the plaintiffs' legal costs.
5. The plaintiffs evidence included internal company memos that indicated supervisors were
using a downsizing to target black employees for firing, including Duke, who had been
working at the company for nine years and was second in seniority.All the Africans who
worked the graveyard shift, from midnight to 7 a.m., were laid off
New vocabulary used
Using context clues from the article, write down the definitions of the new words learned.
Punitive damages-amages exceeding simple compensation and awarded to punish the defendant.
Furloughed-given an leave of absence
What major key concept in law does the topic in this article fall under? (civil rights, crimes
against persons, crimes against property, list charges or years in prison offender is given, civil
law, marriage, divorce, lawsuits). You are not limited to these suggestions.
Discrimination—employers are not allowed to discriminate against their employees and must
treat them the same
Damages-in civil cases plaintiffs may be awarded damages for their losses due to the defendants
actions and may receive additional damages if the treated was really bad so that the court
believes that the defendant should be punished for that bad behavior.
Civil law—plaintiffs may sue others for damages for wrongfully conduct that harms them