Judge rules on discrimination lawsuit against NASCAR
The incident occurred when former Penske Racing motorcoach driver David Scott, who is black, was greeted by a pair of motorcoach drivers, one of whom was wearing a white pillow case over his head as if he were a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
NASCAR indefinitely suspended the two motorcoach drivers involved. In his complaint, Scott said he was promised a job with NASCAR in response to the incident.
NASCAR had claimed in its filings that Scott "was given several work opportunities which were declined" and "was not qualified" for the racing official job he wanted.
Judge Deborah A. Batts ruled Thursday that the three-year statute of limitations had passed for all of the allegations, except for one on whether NASCAR did not award Scott a minority vendor contract in 2005 and 2006 based on race. Scott must re-file his lawsuit within 45 days to focus on that claim.
"NASCAR's continuing failure to hire him cannot stretch the limitations period to benefit [Scott]; to do so would be to allow a never-ending limitations period for all failure to hire cases," Batts wrote.
"Of course we disagree with the decisions reached in the court's order, but we'll be amending the complaint and the suit will go forward," Peter Richard Shipman, Scott's attorney, said in a phone interview Friday. "We'll definitely re-plead. We're still taking under advisement whether to appeal." Scenedaily.com