By Terry Miller
A woman is suing Denny’s after alleging that an employee at the restaurant chain’s Pasadena location called her a “black bitch” when she tried to pay for her meal with a large bill.
The employee allegedly used the racial slur after telling Los Angeles County resident April Hines that she would have to wait until other customers paid for their orders, the lawsuit states.
“During her visit, plaintiff was generally ignored and mistreated by defendants, while her non-African American cohorts were treated properly,” attorney Jonathon Kaplan wrote in the complaint.
Hines states that the employee asked her friends why they associated with Hines. The employee then “escalated the situation with further racially motivated hate speech and ultimately summoned the police to arrest the plaintiff,” the lawsuit states.
The police declined to make any arrest.
In addition to asking for damages and legal fees, the legal team of Kaplan and Weiss is also seeking “a permanent injunction against defendants, and each of them, enjoining defendants from further violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, including denying full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges and services to African American and Black patrons.”
The restaurant chain on Wednesday issued a statement denying the claims.
“At Denny’s, we do not tolerate any acts of discrimination and take any claims to the contrary very seriously,” the company stated. “Based on our preliminary findings, these claims are unfounded.”
