In February 2001, the Houston District Office of the EEOC filed this lawsuit against Prince Food Systems Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. We do not have a copy of the complaint; therefore, the exact allegations involved are unknown. However, it appears from the Agreed Final Judgment that the complaint alleged sexual and racial harassment, racial discrimination in hiring and compensation, and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Following discovery, a failed motion for summary judgment by the defendant in January 2002, and three days of a jury trial, the parties settled the lawsuit through an agreed final judgment in April 2002.

The final agreement required the defendant to: make compliance reports and provide the EEOC with census data, agreement to write a mutually acceptable press release, allow the EEOC to propose hiring goals for areas where African-Americans were under-represented, write apologies and neutral references for the complainants, have management personnel at a designated store and certain corporate officers attend a training seminar, write letters of final warning to two managers, and pay $175,000 to be distributed by the Register of the Court based upon a disbursement agreement.

David Friedman - 12/14/2007


compress summary