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The California book club members who filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Napa Valley Wine Train after being kicked out for “being too loud,” have settled their case, San Jose Mercury News reported. In a mediation that took place last week, the 11 women, 10 African-American and one white, agreed to an undisclosed amount, their lawyer Waukeen McCoy confirmed. They originally sued for $11 million.

“The parties are both very excited about resolving the case and moving forward,” McCoy said.

As Hello Beautiful previously reported, on August 22, 2015, the Bay Area book club “Sistahs on the Reading Edge” were met by police as they were escorted from the locomotive my the train’s maitre d’. The women, who range in age from 39 to 85, believed that race played a factor in their treatment and that their only crime was laughing a few times. Quite the opposite from what the maitre d’ said. According to court documents, the maître d’ told police that women were “unruly and aggressive.”

Since being kicked off the train, two of the women in the book club claim they lost their jobs as a result of how the media portrayed them and negative comments left on social media about their character.

Lisa Renee Johnson, the book club’s leader said on Monday, “We’re relieved that we were able to resolve the matter. I think it’s something we can put behind us.”

Meanwhile, McCoy hopes “that businesses such as the wine train develop sensitivity and diversity to their programs so that this never happens again.”

 

#LaughingWhileBlack: Lawsuit Settlement Reached For Women Kicked Off Napa Valley Wine Train  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com