SAN FRANCISCO — The East Bay women book club members who filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Napa Valley Wine Train after being kicked out for “being too loud,” have settled the case, their attorney said Monday.
The 11 women, 10 of whom were black, sought $11 million in damages in their lawsuit filed in October, claiming the ejection on Aug. 22 stemmed from racial bias and caused two plaintiffs to lose their jobs.
The two parties went into private mediation and reached an amicable settlement on Thursday, said Waukeen McCoy, the attorney who represents the plaintiffs. The settlement amount is confidential, he said.
The women, who hail from cities such as Antioch, Oakland, Pittsburg, Oakley and Richmond, intended to discuss a romance novel as part of their book club during the ride, but they say they never got the chance.
Wine train employees evicted the women — whose ages range from 39 to 85 — after telling them multiple times they were being too loud during a three-hour ride through Napa’s wine country.
The train’s maitre d’hotel kicked the women off the train after asking them a few times to “tone down (their noise) level,” according to court documents. During the ejection, she walked the women through six train cars before exiting onto a dirt lot at the St. Helena station, where police waited with them until a taxi van arrived. The maitre’d also told police that the book club members “were unruly and aggressive,” according to court documents.
“The parties are both very excited about resolving the case and moving forward, McCoy said.
He said he hopes that businesses such as the wine train develop sensitivity and diversity to their programs so that this never happens again.
The book club’s leader and author, Lisa Renee Johnson, said that she felt their group was singled out because they were black and the only thing they were guilty of was occasionally laughing loudly together.
The 18-year-old book club meets monthly at different locations throughout the Bay Area.
“We’re relieved that we were able to resolve the matter,” Johnson said on Monday. “I think it’s something we can put behind us.”
Two of the women — a nurse and a bank/credit card company employee — said they lost their jobs because of news reports about the incident and comments made about them on social media.
Patrick Wingfield, who represents the Napa Valley Wine Train, said he had no comment on the case.
Contact Angela Ruggiero at 510-293-2469 and follow her at Twitter.com/aeruggie.
