Jackson Free Press

Jackson resident Robert Shoulders is suing Utility Constructors Inc. and its owner Terry Lovelace for racial harassment.

Schwartz and Associates attorneys Curt Crowley and Shaun Yurtkuran filed the Title VII Civil Rights case in the U.S. District Court of Southern Mississippi in April, seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Shoulders worked for UCI from 1985 until his termination in 2007. During that time, Shoulders claims, Lovelace constantly referred to black employees as "n*ggers." Shoulders also claims Lovelace was gun-happy, once aiming a pistol at a black employee following an argument, telling the employee, "I'm gonna kill you, n*gger." Lovelace allegedly aimed his pistol numerous times at black employees, even once shooting near the feet of employees, commanding them to "dance." Shoulders claims Lovelace traveled with a white dog, trained to play dead in response to Lovelace asking it if it would "rather be a n*gger or a dead dog."

The racist behavior is not limited to Lovelace, according to the suit, which claims some supervisors at the company engaged in the same behavior. One supervisor stated to African American employees that "all of your kind are on welfare and food stamps, and our kind can't get it."

The suit calls the defendants' actions "atrocious, cruel and utterly intolerable in a civilized society," and states that Lovelace and Utility Constructors "knew of, approved and ratified" supervisors' racist behavior.

Shoulders claimed the company terminated him in retaliation for complaining about the treatment.

Yurtkuran said he was originally handling Shoulders' worker's compensation claim for a work-related knee injury when Shoulders let him in on the long-running racism at the company.

"I was shocked," Yurtkuran said. 'Why didn't you tell me about that earlier?'"

Schwartz and Associates attorney Curt Crowley initially doubted Shoulders' story.

I said, 'Look, bring me some witnesses in to corroborate your story," Crowley said. "I didn't expect to hear from him again because the allegations were so outrageous. Over the next three weeks my office was a revolving door for current and former employees who could corroborate every word he said. Nine of them signed affidavits."

Crowley said the company likely fired Shoulders because he chose to speak up about the treatment.

Lovelace's attorney Matt Hetzel has a different story. Hetzel filed response complaints in reaction to the suit, including two motions to dismiss, a motion to compel discovery and a motion for sanctions for frivolous complaints. Hetzel's May 2007 response and counterclaim to Shoulders' suit denies all racist allegations.

"If the plaintiff had such a problem with the working environment, why did he choose to work there for almost 20 years?" Hetzel asked the Jackson Free Press.

Shoulders said he stayed at his $12-an-hour job out of desperation.

"I had a family to take care of, like a lot of workers out there at that place," Shoulders told the JFP. "A lot of us have families to take care of. (Lovelace) knows that."

Hetzel lobbed allegations at Shoulders, claiming his work performance suffered near the end of his time with the company, until he finally stopped coming to work altogether.

The counterclaim states that Shoulders took an 11-month medical leave beginning in January 2006, as a result of a work-related knee-injury, and returned in November. Lovelace claims Shoulders was furious at the company for withholding a holiday bonus due to his long absence.

"Shoulders became belligerent when he was not given a Thanksgiving bonus. He approached other employees and his supervisor, alleging that Shoulders was entitled to a bonus and that Lovelace and UCI had failed to properly pay the bonus, repeatedly referring to Lovelace as a "son of a bitch" and a "white honky" and making other derogatory comments about UCI and Lovelace," the counterclaim states.

The counterclaim goes on to say that Shoulders "refused to perform his duties and ignored the directives of his supervisors." His behavior upon his return also substantially reduced his Christmas bonus. The counterclaim alleges Shoulders again hurled racist names upon learning of his second reduced bonus. Hetzel said the company fired him for "not showing up for work" soon after.

In the May motion to dismiss claims against Lovelace, Hetzel argues that Shoulders doesn't qualify for a Title VII suit because the more egregious claims against Lovelace involved other employees, not Shoulders directly.

The motion claims: "All of the allegations advanced by the Plaintiff, except for the racial slur, were based on alleged actions taken against other employees that the Plaintiff allegedly witnesses, or heard about," and that the "plaintiff cannot recover as a bystander on a claim of emotional distress by witnessing an action, or injury, to another if the Plaintiff is unrelated to the victim."

Lovelace's motion for counterclaim argues that Shoulders' false statements of racism have damaged UCI, and he is suing for emotional distress, demanding unspecified punitive damages from Shoulders.

The case is pending before U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate.

Previous Comments

ID

68152

Comment

It's great to see two bright young lawyers who are used to dealing solely with personal injury/automobile cases step outside of their usual routine and comfort zone to fight the good fight. To all the other lawyers out there sitting in their offices right now, counting off the hours in 6 minute increments, all I can ask you is this: "Done any good today?"

Author

Tanner

Date

2007-10-25T14:09:14-06:00

ID

68153

Comment

I wonder how this is going to turn out. The stories on both sides are so different, I don't know what to think.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-10-25T19:26:38-06:00

ID

68154

Comment

Good luck fellows! "All is fair in love." War too, some avers. Smile.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-10-29T09:47:39-06:00

ID

68155

Comment

Yeah, Ray this doesn't look good at all.

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-10-30T12:01:20-06:00