WASHINGTON _ The Supreme Court put new limits on race-bias lawsuits Monday, dealing a setback to Los Angeles TV producer Byron Allen, who maintained Comcast refused to carry his channels on its cable network because he is black.
Allen, who owns Entertainment Studios Network, initially negotiated with Comcast but later sued the company when it failed to pick up any of his programs. His suit alleged racial discrimination, and it relied on the historic Civil Rights Act of 1866, which first said that blacks shall have "the same rights" as whites to make and enforce contracts.
But the courts disagreed on whether Allen needed clear proof of racial discrimination to carry on his suit.
While the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said the suit may proceed if he had some evidence that race played a factor, the Supreme Court overturned that ruling Monday and said a plaintiff like Allen needs proof that racial bias was the cause of the company's action.
But the decision in Comcast v. National Association of African American Owned Media was not a total loss for Allen. The justices sent the case back to the 9th Circuit in California to weigh whether Allen has enough proof of racial bias to continue his suit.
The decision was unanimous.
Comcast issued a statement welcoming the ruling.
"We are pleased the Supreme Court unanimously restored certainty on the standard to bring and prove civil rights claims. The well-established framework that has protected civil rights for decades continues. The nation's civil rights laws have not changed with this ruling; they remain the same as before the case was filed. We now hope that on remand the 9th Circuit will agree that the district court properly applied that standard in dismissing Mr. Allen's case three separate times for failing to state any claim."
Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the ruling "puts in place a tougher burden of proof that will likely make it more difficult for many discrimination victims to invoke the protections of Section 1981 in discrimination cases. No doubt, this ruling may shut the courthouse door on some discrimination victims who, at the complaint stage, may simply be without the full range of evidence needed to meet the court's tougher standard."
