J.C. Penney Told To Pay $1.5 Million In Race Suit

All Larry Lucas wanted to do was work hard and earn a good living.

But for years, Lucas says, he suffered regular racist insults and sometimes threats from a fellow J.C. Penney Co. furniture salesman.

Management did not fix the problem, says Lucas, a 59-year-old African American. And in 1992, the 27-year veteran of the company - referred to by family as "Mr. Penney" - took early retirement, his nerves worn thin. He couldn't walk into a shopping mall without having a panic attack.

Yesterday, after several days of testimony from fellow workers, including Jack Townsend, the man Lucas says harassed him, a federal jury ordered the giant retailer to pay Lucas $1.5 million. The jury ruled Lucas had been subjected to a racially hostile environment on the sales floor of the Southcenter J.C. Penney store, and that management had been negligent by not correcting the problem.

Townsend was not named as a defendant in the case heard in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

"Maybe now I'll be able to go home and sleep for the first time in the last couple" of years, Lucas said shortly after hearing the verdict.

But Lucas, who says managers at J.C. Penney retaliated against him for complaining about the racist treatment, felt the company should have been sent a stronger message. The jury could not decide on the retaliation issue and chose not to assess punitive damages, which could have exceeded $5 million.

Some members of the all-white jury had argued to order the punitive damages.

"We wanted to send a message to corporate America and to big businesses to say, `Hey, you can't do this and you better get your act together with racial harassment and figure out what you're going to do,' " said one jury member, who asked not to be identified.

J.C. Penney officials plan to appeal the ruling, said attorney Monty Gray.

During the trial, company managers testified they had not been aware Lucas had been subjected to racial harassment.

"It was our position that they did know," said Jeffrey Needle, Lucas' attorney. "But even if they didn't know, they should have known."

Several other employees testified they saw and heard Townsend make racially derogatory remarks in and out of Lucas' presence. Townsend testified he made no such remarks to Lucas.

In a telephone interview last night, Townsend said, "It was nothing ever made to Larry Lucas' face, and that's all I'm saying."

He declined to answer other questions.

As a young man, Lucas' career with J.C. Penney held nothing but opportunity. In 1965, Lucas, who'd grown up in Georgia, started working as a management trainee at a company store in Portland. He moved soon to Seattle, where he worked as a manager at a store then located in the University District. He later moved to the Southcenter store, where he switched to furniture sales and worked alongside Townsend.

Lucas, a soft-spoken man, was considered a good employee and had received awards for his work.

Lucas' attorneys say Townsend would call Lucas racist slurs and make racially derogatory comments about African-American customers. The behavior, they say, lasted years.

Lucas says he told his managers of the problems, but that nothing was done. He says managers began to harass him about his work habits and performance only after he complained of the racist comments.

Lucas took a medical leave for six months in 1992. Faced with the prospect of returning to work, he opted for early retirement.

"That in itself was a traumatic decision because he was not ready to retire," attorney Needle said. "But they rode him off the road."