“Plaintiffs Brian Johnston, 34, and Nile Charles, 25, have accused Apple of discrimination after an incident they claim occurred on Dec. 9, 2010. Both Johnston and Charles went to the store at 1981 Broadway when the incident allegedly began with an Apple employee, said to be white and in his 50s,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“The lawsuit notes that Charles and Johnston, who are black, went to the Broadway Apple store wearing ‘baggy jeans and large sweaters with hoods’ to purchase headphones. It was around 3:20 p.m., they claim, that the Apple employee, about 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, confronted them,” Hughes reports. “The lawsuit alleges that the Apple employee approached the customers in an ‘intimidating fashion,’ invading their ‘personal space,’ and said to them, ‘You know the deal. You know the deal.'”
Hughes reports, “The employee allegedly told the plaintiffs that they must leave the store unless they planned to purchase something or see a Mac Specialist. Johnston and Charles claim that before they could respond, the Apple employee told them they were not welcome there because of their race… The lawsuit accuses Apple of discrimination under both New York and federal civil rights laws. The plaintiffs seek punitive damages, and originally argued that those damages exceed the jurisdictional amounts of all lower courts.”
More details in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]