Courts Will Monitor Denny's Restaurant Chain For Anti-Black Bias -- Suit Alleges `Cover Charges,' Insults, Refusal Of Service

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Following a highly publicized incident at a San Jose Denny's - in which black teenagers were asked to pay a $2 cover charge and prepay for their meals - the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the courts will monitor how the restaurant treats its black customers.

The announcement is likely to bolster a private class-action suit filed yesterday by former Denny's customers who said the chain had treated them with contempt in a deliberate effort to limit black patronage.

"My feelings go deep," said Reginald Braddock, a Lockheed engineer and former civil-rights activist whose son Rodney was turned away from a Denny's in San Jose. "Almost 30 years ago, I was arrested for trying to eat at a five-and-dime (lunch counter) in Ocala, Fla. Three decades later, it's still going on."

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, Saperstein, Mayeda, Larkin & Goldstein of Oakland, said the San Jose incident had led to complaints from Denny's customers around the state with similar stories.

The suit, which attorneys contend could result in compensation for thousands of Denny's customers, details incidents in which black customers were required to prepay or pay cover charges, denied free birthday meals, refused service, subjected to racially derogatory remarks, charged for food provided free to others and forcibly removed from the premises.

AVOIDING `BLACKOUTS'

District managers instructed store managers to "start cracking down and get rid of some of those blackouts," a term Denny's management used to describe a large number of black customers in one restaurant, the suit states.

In the San Jose incident that triggered the suit, a group of 18 teenagers who had been attending a forum sponsored by Tuskegee College alumni had stopped at a the Blossom Hill Road Denny's for a late-night meal on Dec. 30, 1991. But they left when Denny's management demanded that they each pay a $2 cover charge and prepay for their meals. One member of the group, Kristina Ridgeway, learned that white teenagers she knew there had not been asked for either prepayment or a cover charge.

In addition to the San Jose incident, several other incidents of alleged discrimination by Denny's are detailed in the lawsuit:

-- Rachel Thompson of Vallejo came to a Denny's restaurant to celebrate her 13th birthday in December 1991 with her family. First, the family was ignored by their waitress in a nearly empty restaurant for more than 15 minutes. Then the manager refused to honor a free "birthday meal" offer, saying Rachel's baptismal certificate was insufficient proof of her date of birth.

`IT STILL HURTS'

"I was angry, outraged at what happened," Rachel's mother, Susan, said at a news conference in San Francisco. "I felt insulted. You have to have lived it to know how it felt. It still hurts. The pain is too great, especially on my daughter's 13th birthday, her first day as a teenager."

-- Louis McNair went to Denny's on Capitol Expressway in San Jose and was refused a free "birthday meal" on his 12th birthday in May 1992. The manager there refused to accept a school I.D. card, a Social Security card and a Burger King identification, saying it was company policy to require a birth certificate. His mother paid for the meal but returned later with a copy of his birth certificate. The manager at first called the police, who refused to respond, and later refunded the meal.

-- Veteran San Francisco police Officer Michael Maxwell visited a Denny's in November 1991 in San Diego, where the family had gathered to celebrate after watching his brother-in-law play his last football game for San Diego State University. But family members were seated only after waiting an hour, then told they had to prepay for their meals. White customers present at the same time told the family they had not been required to prepay.

The plaintiffs are asking for an end to the chain's discriminatory practices at the chain's 330 California restaurants and unspecified monetary damages.

The Justice Department said a lengthy investigation substantiated that the restaurant chain had discriminated against black customers. The department is close to negotiating an agreement with Denny's for court monitoring of the restaurant.

CHAIN'S RESPONSE

Denny's issued a statement from headquarters in Spartanburg, S.C., saying it had ended the practices that were in contention, though it disagreed with the department's conclusions. The company said the complaints involved isolated incidents, not company policy.