In May 1997 the Memphis Office of the EEOC filed this lawsuit against Harbert-Yeargin Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. We do not have a copy of the complaint; therefore, the exact allegations involved are unknown. However it appears from the Annual Report that the complaint alleged the defendant allowed male employees to be subjected to a sexually hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complainant intervened in the lawsuit in July 1997. Following discovery and multiple summary judgment motions by the defendant, the case went to jury trial in April 1999, and the jury found in favor of the intervenor plaintiffs that month. Following defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law in May 1999, the District Court granted the motion with regard to one intervenor and denied it as to the other in December 1999. The EEOC unsuccessfully motioned for injunctive relief that month as well. The defendant appealed the District Court's decision not to grant it judgment as a matter of law regarding the first plaintiff in January 2000 and the EEOC appealed the District Court's denial of injunctive relief in February 2000. The Sixth Circuit reversed the District Court's decision not to grant judgment as a matter of law regarding the first plaintiff and affirmed the District Court's decision not to grant injunctive relief in September 2001.

In October of 2002 an order was issued by the United States District Court in the Western District of Tennessee, cancelling and returning the bond previously issued by the Defendant as payment for compensatory and punitive damages, to the Defendant. It is not clear why this action was taken.

Keri Livingston - 11/14/2007


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