ATLANTA — A federal jury Friday found that an upscale Atlanta restaurant did not violate the civil rights of former Denver East High standout and NBA all-star Joe Barry Carroll and a friend who claimed they were expelled from the bar because they are black.
A panel of nine white members and three blacks deliberated just 15 minutes before deciding Carroll and Joseph Shaw were not subject to racial discrimination. Their attorney, Jeffrey Bramlett, had been seeking at least $3 million in damages for the humiliation and embarrassment he claims his clients suffered when a security guard escorted them from the Tavern at Phipps in August 2006 after they refused to give up their seats to two white women.
Defense lawyer Ernest Greer said the establishment was following a longstanding policy rooted in Southern hospitality, in which men routinely give up their bar seats for women when the bar gets crowded.
“This incident didn’t happen because they were black,” Greer said. “This incident happened because Mr. Carroll and Mr. Shaw wanted to be treated better than anyone else that evening.”
Bramlett said restaurant management was intent on keeping the clientele predominantly white and the bar stocked with “white men and well-endowed women.”
