Longest-running
By The Associated Press
ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. ? The longest-running
lawsuit in the state's Eastern District, which claims
blacks were illegally denied jobs at J. P. Stevens' tex
tile mills, appears no closer to being resolved than
when it was filed 19 years ago.
More than 2,800 former workers and job applicants
at nine plants and three offices in Roanoke Rapids
have said they were victims of race, discrimination
and are seeking back pay. Their attorneys say the
claimants are owed $96 million.
It has been 13 years since U.S. District Court Judge
Franklin Dupree said the mills discriminated against
blacks and 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court
refused to review that finding. Still, no claimant has
received a nickel, The News and Observer of
Raleigh reported Sunday.
Meanwhile, West Point-Pepperell Inc. acquired J.P.
Stevens & Co. last year and sold its Roanoke Rapids
assets to the Bibb Co. A corporate raider subsequent
ly took over West Point-Pepperell, which continues
to be held responsible with Bibb for the back-pay
claims.
On their third set of lawyers, the corporate defen
dants are fighting the suit, contending race had noth
ing to do with the vast majority of the claimants' fail
ures to get jobs or promotions.
Dupree, a 75-year-old senior judge, no longer has
to take a full caseload. He still does, however, and he
still handles the Stevens case. Court officials say he
suit in East not near being resolved after 19 years
is the only one who knows its intricacies.
In a footnote to a recent order, Dupree light-heart
edly jabbed at the case's longevity.
"The case has at times been whimsically referred to
as the Eastern District's counterpart to the inter
minable Jarndyce vs. Jamdyce of Dickens' Bleak
House' fame," he wrote. But he said the case remind
ed him of another judge's description of a similar
suit. In this case, the judge had written, "we
encounter another judicial Paleolithic museum
piece."
Indeed, searching through the filers is like embark
ing on an archaeological dig. Legal papers in the suit
take up a file cabinet and 21 boxes in the federal
courthouse. Employees of the clerk's office know its
docket number, 1201, by heart and call it "the case
that won't go away." _= ?
But the case is significant in several ways, said
Richard Seymour, with the Washington-based
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law,
who prepared and filed the suit in October 1970.
It was one of the first suits to establish the illegali
ty of subjective employment decisions that affect the
races differently. And it was the first of its kind in
which lawyers used computers to analyze statistics
and show that blacks were kept out of high-paying
jobs, he said.
The case, Lucy Sledge vs. J.P. Stevens & Co. Inc.,
was tried in 1972. Stevens had laid off Ms. Sledge,
and she said white women had been hired to replace
her. . ?
Dupree delayed a ruling for four years, awaiting a
Supreme Court decision on a similar case involving
the Albemarle Paper Co. mill in Roanoke Rapids.
Finally ruling in 1976, the judge absolved Stevens
of intentional discrimination. But statistical evidence
showed that discretionary decisions by Stevens' per
sonnel officials had a disparate impact on blacks, he
"The case has at times been whimsi
cally referred to as the Eastern Dis
trict's counterpart to the inter
minable Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce of
Dickens' 'Bleak House' fame."
-- U.S. District Court
Judge Franklin Dupree
ruled. Whites were getting the mills' better-paying
clerical, supervisory and skilled jobs, he found.
Consequently he declared that under Title VII of
the Civil Rights Act, Stevens was liable for back-pay
claims. The amount of back pay and who should
receive it are still being litigated.
In that regard, the case has differed from many
race discrimination suits under Title VII because the
attorneys simply can't reach a settlement.
"The pattern in this court has generally been that
once there is a finding of liability, the parties are able
to work out some kind of amicable settlement about
the amount of damages to be paid to class members,"
said J. Rich Leonard, federal court clerk for the East
em District. "I can t recall another one here where
they actually adjudicated the class members' claims
in phase two of the class action."
A ruling in February might drastically reduce the
claimants in the case. In that order, Dupree said
claimants could recover only for discrimination that
occurred before Nov. 10, 1972, when the trial ended.
That would leave 1 ,365 claims.
The plaintiffs have moved to reopen the record to
allege discrimination continuing through Dec. 12,
1980. Dupree has not ruled on that motion, which
would restore 1,461 claims.
One of those belongs to Willie Ray Pittman, a con
struction worker in Weldon who applied for a job at
Stevens in 1973, seeking any job, any shift at the
mill.
"It didn't matter what kind of job it was _ I just
needed a job," Pittman, 41, said. "But they never got
around to me for some reason, and during that time, I
think they were hiring three or four whites to one
black."
He laughed when asked if he expected to get
money from the suit.
"No, I don't, because it's been so long," he said.
"And besides, Stevens has lawyers, and they are
probably going over all the records, and I'll probably
be old and retired if I do get anything."
Local Chamber of Commerce
will sponsor export seminar
A half-day seminar on inter- president of First Wachovia Cor
hationaT trade, "The^Export Boom porate "Services The., arid Jeffrey
? How to Cash in on It,Tr will be T. Lawyer and Peter S. Brunstet
offered from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ter, attorneys with Petree, Stock
on Thursday, June 8, at the Hyatt ton & Robinson.
Winston-Salem. ? The registration fee is $15 for
Speakers will include Jack chamber members and $20 for
Whiteley, deputy director of the non-members, payable in
U.S. Department of Commerce; advance. A continental breakfast,
Felicia Pine, tra<^e specialist with which is included, will be served
the N.C. Department of Com- from 7:30 to 8 a.m.
merce; Larry Roth, international for more information, call the
trade manager for Dunn Enter- Chamber of Commerce at 725
prises; William Edwards, vice 2361.
Wall honored for accomplishments
Bitsy Wall has been selected personal and professional lives
the Outstanding Business Associ- and the positive image she pre
ate for 1989 by the Forsyth Chap- sents to working women. ^
ter of the American Business
Women's Association. She is an assistant vice presi
Ms. Wall was selected based dent with Wachovia Bank and
upon her accomplishments in her Trust in the systems department.
Tornado damage may mean dollars
saved on your federal income taxes
By PRESTON WHITE JR. and how to deduct these losses,
Special To The Chronicle reacj Qn
There is some good news!
Did you wake up on May 6, 1989,
to find your windows broken,
your trees uprooted, your roof
blown away or your car crushed
by the storm? Have you spent the
last several weeks clearing away
debris, trying to fix it yourself, or
struggling to reconcile wildly dif
ferent repair estimates? Take
heart, the storm damage and
expenses may translate into feder
al income tax deductions which
will save money on your income
taxes next year, if not sooner.
Losses directly caused by the
storm of 1989 are losses arising
from a "casualty" within the
meaning of Section 165 of the
Internal Revenue Code. Under
some circumstances, this Section
of the Code allows individual tax
payers to deduct casualty losses
sustained to non-business or per
sonal use property during the tax
able year which losses are not
compensated for by insurance or
otherwise. To determine if, when
If a casualty loss deduction is
claimed for non-business property
on an income tax return, you must
be prepared to prove the amount
of the deduction to the Internal
Revenue Service. In general, you
must be able to establish the fol
lowing:
? The nature and date of the
casualty;
? The casualty directly caused
the damage to the property;
? You were either the owner
of the damaged property or a per
son (e.g., a lessee) contractually
liable to the owner for damage to
the property;
? Your adjusted basis in the
property;
? The fair market value of the
damaged property, both immedi
ately before and immediately after
casualty;
? The amount of insurance or
other compensation received for
the clean-up, repair and restora
tion of the damaged property;
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770-1 00C
16 West Third Street ? P O Box 215
Winston-Salem. NC 27102
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