Racial discrimination suit against Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group terminated by judge

racial discrimination suit against baltimore-based atlas restaurant group terminated by judge

Atlas Restaurant Group is facing a discrimination lawsuit from a woman who says she and her 9-year-old son were barred from eating at Ouzo Bay on account of their race.

A federal judge terminated a racial discrimination lawsuit against Atlas Restaurant Group on Wednesday.

The complaint stemmed from a summer 2020 incident when a Black mother and son were denied service at Ouzo Bay restaurant in Harbor East in Baltimore.

Marcia Grant was told by a manager that her then-9-year-old son’s athletic shorts violated the restaurant’s dress code. A video Grant shared to social media shows a white child also wearing shorts at the restaurant.

United States District Judge George L. Russell III wrote in an opinion that the white child was wearing khaki shorts that adhered to the dress code while Grant’s son was wearing basketball shorts in violation of the dress code.

“The record is conclusive that [Grant’s son’s] shorts were basketball shorts and did not meet the plain requirements of the posted dress code, while the white child’s shorts were khaki or chino Bermuda shorts that did meet the dress code requirements,” Russell wrote. “Nowhere in the video does the Ouzo Bay manager explicitly say that Grant and [her son] are being denied service because of their race or make any racially charged comments.”

Atlas Group said in the June 2020 release that service should not have been denied and that two restaurant managers had been fired. The restaurant group also changed its policy to make children 12 and under who are accompanied by an adult not subject to the dress code.

Atlas Restaurant Group CEO Alex Smith and Managing Partner Eric Smith are nephews of Baltimore Sun owner David D. Smith.

“Our team is pleased with the objective, thoughtful decision of the Court. While incredibly unfortunate, we have long maintained the 2020 incident was purely a customer service issue and most certainly was not a case of discrimination or racial bias in any form,” Alex Smith said in a news release.

Attorneys for Grant from New York-based firm Mills and Edwards and Baltimore-based firm Cohen Harris argued that the release immediately after the incident implied that Grant’s son met the dress code requirements, which prohibits athletic or gym clothing. Russell disagreed.

“The Court finds that the dress code is not vague, and that Atlas Group’s press release issued in response to the incident is inadmissible to prove liability as a subsequent remedial measure,” Russell wrote.

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    Former Atlas Restaurant Group employees, including at Ouzo Bay, signed affidavits in the lawsuit stating they witnessed black customers receive less favorable treatment than white customers at the group’s restaurants and that the dress code was enforced against black customers in a racially discriminatory manner.

    “The affidavits plaintiffs provide concerning past Atlas Group discrimination, to the extent they may be admissible, provide anecdotal evidence of sporadic instances potentially giving rise to an inference of discrimination, but they do not prove a pattern or practice of discrimination,” Russell wrote.

    A former Ouzo Bay employee who signed an affidavit stating he witnessed other employees avoid serving a black couple was also dismissed as inadmissible and not based on factual evidence by the judge.

    “This case was frivolous from the beginning,” Scott H. Marder, Atlas Restaurant Group’s attorney, said in Wednesday’s news release.

    Attorneys representing the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Grant filed the lawsuit in July 2020 seeking around $150,000 in damages, alleging the restaurant group had discriminated against her and her son because of their race and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on them and violated Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in denying them service. She maintained that she and her son “have suffered and will continue to suffer severe and extreme emotional distress” because of the incident.

    In July 2021, Russell dismissed three of four counts in Grant’s suit. While Grant had alleged the intentional infliction of emotional distress, her complaint didn’t provide any details about their injuries, Russell wrote at the time, “including whether they sought medical treatment after the incident or whether the distress manifested psychologically or physically.”

    Additionally, the plaintiff’s claim didn’t provide enough information to show that the restaurant group’s conduct was “intentional or reckless” or “extreme and outrageous,” he wrote.

    Russell also dismissed Grant’s claim that Atlas had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on the grounds that she hadn’t provided “written notice to the appropriate state or local authority as required” by law.

    ©2024 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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