Reply #8: Yet another Kansas City Dillard's harrassment problem [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

They've had a horrid image in the area over their viciousness toward customers. I've not been anywhere close to one for many years, despite the fact it's within walking distance from my house.

Court Affirms $1.2M Verdict
The Associated Press

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- A federal appeals court has upheld the $1.2 million verdict against Dillard's Inc. in a bias lawsuit by a Black woman who said she was denied a free cologne sample because of her race.

The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision issued Tuesday, affirmed the 1997 award of damages to Paula Hampton. It also upheld the lower court's dismissal of a companion claim by Demetria Cooper, Hampton's niece. Unlike Hampton, Cooper had not purchased anything when the two women went to the Dillard's department store at the Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City.

Hampton and Cooper testified that they bought an Easter outfit for Cooper's 1-year-old son. Hampton paid for it, and both women received coupons for a free sample at the fragrance counter.

But a Dillard's security guard accused the women of shoplifting, and detained them. No evidence of theft was found. But the confrontation kept Hampton from getting her perfume sample.
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The trial included testimony that Dillard's "tracked'' Blacks after they entered the store, used race "codes'' that highlighted Black shoppers as suspicious and wrote store incident reports differentiating shoppers primarily by race.
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http://star94fm.com/news/VerdictUpheld.html