On August 30, 2004 the plaintiff filed a complaint in the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia alleging racial discrimination against herself and others similarly situated by her direct employer, Protiva, Inc., individuals who managed that company, and Texaco, Inc. and Shell Oil Company, the owners of the gas station where she worked. Specifically she alleged that she had been unlawfully demoted from her position as store manager in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and Title VII because she was Caucasian and defendant operators wished to only employ managers of their racial descent, South Asian.

Each party filed a motion for summary judgment as discovery proceeded. On September 21, 2006 the Magistrate Judge submitted a report recommending that the defendants' motions be granted. On March 28, 2007, however, the district court (Judge Carnes) granted the defendants' motions regarding belatedly raised retaliation claims but denied the other motions for summary judgment on the basis that the defendants had failed to demonstrate that they either were not the plaintiff's joint employer (in the case of Shell and Texaco) or that the stated reasons for demoting the plaintiff were not a mere pretext (in the case of Protiva). The parties reached a settlement awarding the plaintiff unspecified monetary damages on August 9, 2007.

Michael Perry - 07/31/2010


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