Jury decides Tavern at Phipps did NOT discriminate against black customers

After a week-long trial, it took a jury just a few minutes to decide that the Tavern at Phipps did not racially discriminate against two black customers who were ejected from the Buckhead restaurant when they refused to give up their seats at the bar to a couple of white women.

A previous Fresh Loaf post about the Aug. 2006 incident and subsequent legal battle explained that former Tavern employees testified that the restaurant’s owners had a policy that was referred to internally as “Southern Hospitality,” a policy they say was implemented to alienate a black clientele. Tavern owner Greg Greenbaum said that the policy of asking guys to give up their seats at the bar wasn’t intended to run off black people, but rather to appeal to women (who would appeal to men who would spend lots of money).

Plaintiffs Joe Barry Carroll, a former NBA star, and attorney Joseph Shaw insist they were the only ones who were repeatedly asked to give up their seats, despite the fact that other men — white men — were also seated at the bar.

According to an AJC write-up, Greenbaum’s attorney Ernest Greer argued in court that the Carroll’s and Shaw’s treatment had nothing to do with race, stressing that only two former employees testified about the racial nature of Tavern’s “Southern Hospitality” policy and that no other patrons had complained about racial discrimination. Greer to jurors: “Everybody has testified to you that it was a racially mixed environment. This is a race case. They have to prove to you they were asked to get up from their seat and made to leave the bar because of their race.”