The book club members who sued the Napa Valley Wine Train after being kicked off for laughing too loud have reached a settlement in their racial discrimination case.
The Aug. 22 incident received a lot of news coverage after some members of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club posted about being removed from the train on social media and #LaughingWhileBlack went viral. The 11 women, 10 of whom were African American, felt that the group had been removed from the train due to their race. Anthony Giaccio, the CEO of the Napa Valley Wine Train, later apologized to the women and offered the group their own rail car for a future visit, but the women decided to sued the company for $11 million.
“This was clearly racial discrimination. They have been humiliated, and we don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” said Waukeen McCoy, the civil rights attorney who represented the ladies.
McCoy told The Mercury News that an undisclosed settlement was reached in the case on Thursday. He said he hopes businesses like the wine train develop sensitivity practices to avoid other situations of discrimination in the future.
“The parties are both very excited about resolving the case and moving forward,” McCoy said.
The trouble started when the group, who range in age from 39 to 85, congregated on the Napa Valley Wine Train to discuss a romance novel. The group had been meeting in California for 15 years, so they expected for the trip to be typical, but the group was never able to complete their meeting. According to court documents, the train’s maitre d’hotel asked the ladies to “tone down [their noise] level.” Eventually, the worker escorted the women off the train and onto a dirt lot at the St. Helena station. She told police the women were being “unruly and aggressive,” court documents read.
Lisa Renee Johnson, the book club leader, said the women were targeted because of their race and that all they were doing was laughing loudly together.
“We’re relieved that we were able to resolve the matter,” Johnson said on Monday, according to The Mercury News. “I think it’s something we can put behind us.”
Two of the members — a bank employee and a nurse — said they were fired from their jobs after the incident went public and slanderous things were said about them via social media.
