The former owner of a clothing store in Boston’s “Combat Zone” could not be held liable to a customer with whom he had a heated disagreement over cell phones, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has ruled.
The complainant, who grew up in Kenya, was looking for a phone repair store near Downtown Crossing, but when he could not locate such a place, he entered Mr. Alan’s Clothing on lower Washington Street.
When he asked if the owner, respondent Alan Swartz, knew where he could get a phone fixed, Swartz allegedly responded with racial epithets and a threat to resort to a baseball bat.
Swartz, on the other hand, claimed that he simply did not understand why anyone would be inquiring about phones in a clothing store.
Hearing Officer Eugenia M. Guastaferri found the owner to be the more credible witness.
“I do believe that Swartz treated Complainant in a gruff and brusque manner, but that he would have done so regardless of Complainant’s race, given Complainant’s inquiry about phone repair,” Guastaferri stated.
“Swartz’s response to Complainant, ‘I don’t sell phones, I sell clothes,’ is also plausible, given Swartz’s apparent gruff, somewhat unpolished exterior.”
The hearing officer found that the owner’s life story backed up his denials of racism.
“[The respondent] ran a business with primarily minority customers for many years, employed African Americans, married an African American woman and raised and educated a son who is black with her,” she emphasized. “Ultimately, I am left to conclude that the encounter was an extremely unfortunate incident which escalated beyond the intent of either party and was distressing to Complainant, but was not discrimination.”
The nine-page decision is Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, et al. v. Mr. Alan Clothing, Inc., et al., Lawyers Weekly No. 22-001-11. The full text of the ruling can be ordered atwww.lwopinions.com.
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