Because she wasn’t served
Woman collects $1.55 million
A gas station attendant in Oregon state failed to serve a woman. She then filed a lawsuit for discrimination – and was right. There was a lot of compensation for that.
Published: 37 minutes ago
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The American Rose Wakefield was not served because of her skin color.
She just wanted to fill up and was not served because of the color of her skin. “It was terrible,” says the American Rose Wakefield (63) to the TV station KGW. For this she gets a high compensation – over a million US dollars.
Specifically, it is about the incident on March 12, 2020 in the US state of Oregon. She drove her car to the gas station in the suburb of Beaverton at the Jacksons Food chain. But instead of being served, Wakefield was “humiliated and disrespected,” she explains. “I’ll take care of you when I feel like it,” the gas station attendant Nigel Powers is said to have said to her. After that, he preferred to serve other customers, as recordings from the surveillance cameras show.
“I asked myself: what kind of world do we live in?”
Wakefield went to another gas station attendant who ended up serving her. Afterwards she asked Nigel Powers why he had ignored her. He said, “I don’t serve black people,” and laughed. Wakefield: «I asked myself: what kind of world do we live in?»
After the incident, Wakefield complained to management twice. According to her own statements, because she didn’t want that to happen to anyone else. But this largely ignored the matter.
A gross mistake, as it turns out at the latest now. Because a court in Oregon this week sentenced the chain to a fine of around one million dollars. In addition, the jury in Multnomah County awarded Rose Wakefield $550,000 in punitive damages.
Jackson’s Food declined to comment on broadcaster KGW. (twa)