Twenty-five members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority today filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court against Bahama Breeze over the incident back in June when a manager at the Orange Village restaurant called the police on approximately 40 members of the African-American sorority, believing they weren’t going to pay their bill.
“The Bahama Breeze Island Grille in Orange Village, Ohio invites the public to ‘explore island flavors in warm and welcoming atmosphere.’ But instead, the restaurant targeted Plaintiffs for dining while black,” the lawsuit reads.
Court documents state the sorority members and their guests waited an hour to be seated despite having a reservation, and then endured glacial and disinterested service throughout the evening. Before most guests had eaten or received checks, a manager called the police to falsely report that the group was threatening not to pay their bill. Another manager stood with officers demanding receipts before these black patrons could leave the room, even to use the restroom. Some guests never even received their food orders.
The plaintiffs, all African-American, include educators, psychologists, medical professionals, IT professionals, journalists, authors, guidance counselors, a real estate broker and even a retired principal. “Bahama Breeze and its staff treated these professional, educated patrons like criminals because of the color of their skin,” the lawsuit says. Bahama Breeze Corporate and two white managers are the defendants named in the case.
Manager Devin Jenkins seated the group in a private room, and is quoted in the documents telling the party, “You and your people cannot leave out of this room for anything.” It is not Bahama Breeze’s standard policy to tell guests that they cannot leave room when the entire restaurant is open to the public.
Another manager, Francis Skupnik, was the one who called the police on the group. “The assumption that the patrons in [the Plantiff’s] party were not going to pay was based not on anything Plaintiffs had done but on invidious stereotypes about black criminality,” according to the suit.
The Plaintiffs are represented by The Chandra Law Firm.
For this particular Bahama Breeze location, this isn’t the first time they’ve been sued for failing to treat people of color like human beings. In 2009, the restaurant’s parent company, Darden Restaurants, Inc., was forced to shell out a whopping $1.26 million in a lawsuit settlement regarding the racially targeted harassment of 37 black workers. The lawsuit claimed that managers used racial slurs, mimicked black employees and denied them work breaks.
The Cleveland chapter of Delta Sigma Theta has more than 400 members, including Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, who previously served as president of the national chapter.
This article appears in Sep 5-11, 2018.
Gotta wonder if this chain has customers ready to testify as witnesses, and who will testify that twice as many members showed up…forty instead of the twenty that the reservation was made for, and that they were loud and boisterous and disturbed other customers and were then put into a private room. Was it really all about skin color, or about behavior? I guess we may now get a chance to find out, unless this is settled out of court. Perhaps these women were treated badly because they behaved badly. Were there any SCENE readers there that night? if you saw something, say something!
I sincerely doubt that 40 middle aged sorority members were that much trouble. They may have been loud, but what group of 40 isn’t? I’m sure the restaurant has had many occasions in which more people have showed up then reserved. I’ve worked in restaurants and you just grin and bear it. No, it was a group of black ladies, so everything somehow became loud and frightening. If it had been a group of middle-aged white ladies they probably would’ve been considered mildly annoying and that would’ve been it.
Angry black women are second only to angry black men when it comes to “frightening” situations. Managers get scared during incidents they would otherwise shrug off if the parties involved were not black.
Black men are routinely considered to be “dangerous”…a similar incident involving a black fraternity at a restaurant would result in police activity, shots fired, and body bags. When black women become assertive, they are considered to be aggressive, threatening, and loud.
These women got pissed off at what they considered to be slow service and poor treatment, which immediately made them “threatening” to the managers. Blaming it on overt racism then added gasoline to the fire. White hostility and anger is merely “annoying”…while black hostility and anger…even when justified…is thought of as being much more perilous.
BM you’re a stereotypical racists. Clearly you cannot comprehend English as none of them received anything for FREE. They were racially targeted and judged. Just another day of dealing with assholes like you.
Lets start with this, Im a black man that works in customer service.
1. You do not reserve a party of 20 and show up with 40+. Maybe 25-30. They started the experience off wromg by not calling the restaurant and informing someone that it would be 40+ people.
2. With, now 40+ people on a non-contracted party, (black or white) Im calling the police too. Thats a lot of money to lose. I do agree that the whole, you cant leave the room without a receipt thing was a bit much. They should have had communication between the party room and the front door.
3. If you check facts, it is no longer a stereotype that black people more often than white people either run out on their bill or dont tip. There are plenty of studies now that show you numbers and percentages. So excuse them for being knowledgeable and cautious.
(NOTE: I am not giving grace to Bahama Breeze, I just want readers to look at the whole picture)
4. At the time, if your bill is not paid, restaurants do have the right to call the police to ensure that all bills are paid in full. Nobody truly knows if that managers intentions were to racially profile that group. One black woman said it and everyone agreed.
Im unbiased in this situation but black people always looking for a come up so I wouldnt be surprised or offended if they didnt win this case. In my opinion, they dont deserve to though.