Atlanta Library Bias Suit
Delayed for Separate Appeal
A U.S. District Court judge has postponed a trial involving seven white employees of the Atlanta-Fulton County Library who filed a racial discrimination lawsuit in mid-August. The delay was ordered pending a decision in an appeals court on Fulton County’s claim that the library administration has qualified immunity and should not be held liable for mandating a reorganization that targeted white staff, because the law on racial discrimination is imprecise.
The trial, which had been put on a fast track and was scheduled to begin in December, may now be delayed as much as a year, according to the December 6 Atlanta Journal-Constitution. One of the plaintiffs, Janet Bogle, has retired since the suit was filed.
“We will argue that there is no immunity,” plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Bowers told reporters. “The law is clear and has been clear for some time.” County attorney O. V. Brantley denied allegations that the county was stalling with an appeal, saying, “We don’t believe anybody has been discriminated against.”
Posted December 11, 2000.
|
