Alabama Landmark Legal Settlements
Victim’s Mother Sues Klan
After her 19-year-old son was beaten and left for dead in 1981, Beulah Mae Donald not only sought criminal charges against his murderers, but also brought a lawsuit against the Alabama-based United Klans of America.
In 1987 an all-white jury in Mobile, Alabama returned a $7 million verdict against the group, which was reportedly the largest Klan organization in the country. Although it was unclear how much of the settlement Donald would actually be able to collect, her lawyer said it was the first time a Klan group had been held financially responsible for the actions of its members.
Chain Gangs Permanently Halted in 1996
The state of Alabama was forced to stop using chain gangs in its prisons system, once and for all, a year after it resumed the practice in 1995.
After a lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center, and after reports of injuries and other problems, the state Department of Corrections signed a legal agreement to stop the chain gangs.
The Corrections Department made a decision to stop chaining inmates together in May 1996, and the agreement filed soon after in federal court made it permanent. The former Corrections Commissioner Ron Jones, a driving force behind reinstating the practice, was demoted to warden of a state prison after announcing plans to also put female inmates in chain gangs.
Fair-Pay Lawsuit Prompts Federal Law Change
Lilly Ledbetter, the sole female supervisor at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plant in Alabama, originally won a lawsuit in which she claimed that sex discrimination in the workplace led to the company paying her less than her male peers. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that Ledbetter didn’t sue within the time frame required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Ledbetter case prompted Obama to approve the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, which he chose to be the first piece of legislation he signed as president.
The new federal law allows workers to sue within six months of discovering the alleged pay discrimination, regardless of when it began.
Copyright© 2012 LexisNexis. All rights reserved.
November 29th, 2011 - 07:00
Your excellent article has been of great value to me. I have learned a lot about this topic and appreciate the information. I am hoping to get more information .