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SHREVEPORT, La. - A federal court jury in Shreveport. La. on Thursday,
April 6, entered a verdict for eight black railroad workers of the
Kansas City Southern Railroad Company diesel shop (mechanical
department) in the amount of $1,000,000 in punitive damages to punish
and deter KSC for continuing in illegal misconduct and encouraging a
racially hostile work environment in Shreveport. The plaintiffs were jointly represented by S. Reed Morgan of Morgan and Chadick of Comfort, Texas and Pine Bluff and Gregory Paul of the Pierce Law Firm in Pittsburgh, Penn. The case was heard in the Western District of the Federal Court in the State of Louisiana with Judge Tom Staggs presiding. The jury found that the railroad encouraged and tolerated a hostile work environment in the rail car and locomotive shops at the Shreveport terminal. The railroad workers presented five days of evidence that KCS intentionally engendered racial hostility, thereby violating the working men's civil rights under federal laws prohibiting a racially hostile work environment- The men presented testimony. confirmed under cross-examination of CEO Michael Haverty and two vice presidents, that the firm promoted a Ku Klux Klansman to assistant shop superintendent, knowing that he had been convicted of a felony in 1992 for Ku Klux Klan activities. The former klansman and supervisor worked from 1994-2002 at the facility. The men showed the existence of two hangmen's nooses at the KCS rail shops, one that hung for several years, and another at the Vicksburg, Miss. shop. Supervisors were also said to have used racially derogatory epitaphs, including calling the evening shift the "Coon Shift." Testimony revealed supervisors parked daily by the Oil House where the noose was hung in the Shreveport terminal. Chadick; stated that the verdict would send the message that "you can't treat people that way anymore." Thursday's ruling was the second time the case had been brought to trial. About six, months ago, evidence presented in the case resulted in a hung Jury-According to a source knowledgable with the case, the 1992 felony conviction of the KCS assistant superintendent stemmed from a federal investigation dubbed "Shrevebum" which involved cross burnings by the Ku Klux Klan in 1991-92, The former KCS employee was among those prosecuted and convicted for hate crimes, yet he was sentenced to house arrest and allowed to remain supervisor over a workforce comprised of a majority of black workers.
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