Wine Train bias suit narrowed by judge
A federal judge has narrowed a lawsuit by a group of mostly African American women against the Napa Valley Wine Train, but left the core of their case largely intact: that they were subjected to racial discrimination when a manager evicted them from the train last year, allegedly for talking and laughing too loudly.
The women, members of a book club, said they were no louder than other passengers on the tourist excursion and were singled out because of their race — 10 of the 11 women are black.
Their suit claims violations of both state and federal laws against race discrimination, along with discrimination against two disabled women who were allegedly denied accommodations. The suit also says the women were libeled in an online message by a train employee accusing them of abusing other passengers and staff.
Suits accusing private parties of violating federal civil rights laws must show that the government was involved in some way with the wrongdoers or their actions. On Tuesday, U. S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said the women had failed to show that the Wine Train was acting under state authority, as required for one of their race- related federal claims, because they had not alleged that local police who led them from the train had any part in their eviction.
Henderson also said he might dismiss the second claim of discrimination under federal law if he decided at a later stage that the train was not a direct “recipient” of federal aid, $ 65 million in funding for repair of tracks and railroad bridges.
But the Wine Train, while denying any racial motivations, has not challenged the legal basis of the women’s claim of discrimination under California law, which applies to private conduct as well as government- funded actions.
And even if Henderson dismissed the claims of racial bias under federal law, the suit would remain in federal court because the judge allowed the two disabled passengers to proceed with their federal claim that they were denied a promised accommodation.
“We’re ecstatic about the ruling,” the women’s lawyer, Waukeen McCoy, said Wednesday. He said they would seek to reinstate the dismissed federal claim by showing that the Wine Train used local police as part of its security team.
The Wine Train and its lawyers were not immediately available for comment.
The women boarded the train in Napa on Aug. 22 for a round trip through Wine Country. They said they were laughing and having a good time, occasionally chatting with other passengers, when a train manager, Anna Marquinn, approached and asked them to lower their voices.
The women said they told Marquinn they weren’t behaving any differently than other passengers. But they said she repeated the warning later, and they were then ordered off the train at St. Helena, halfway through the trip, and required to march past passengers in all six cars, some of whom “snickered” at them.
They were met by police, who led them to a van that took them back to Napa. The Wine Train refunded their $ 62 fares, and later apologized and offered them a free trip in the future, an offer they rejected. A Wine Train spokeswoman has said the train removes guests for their conduct about once a month.