Black women sue Calif. wine train for discrimination
SAN FRANCISCO -- Nearly a dozen black women ejected from a Northern California wine country train have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit.
The women say they were ejected from the Napa Valley Wine Train for laughing too loud during an afternoon excursion in August. The lawsuit seeks $1 million each for the 11 women who claim they were humiliated and discriminated against when staff ordered them from the train after warning them several times to lower their voices.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in San Francisco federal court.
Owners of the train say they have hired a retired FBI agent to investigate the women's claims. Ownership of the train changed hands on Sept. 15, three weeks after the incident.
The CEO of the company issued an apology a few days after the incident.
"The Napa Valley Wine Train was 100 percent wrong in its handling of this issue," CEO Anthony "Tony" Giaccio said in a statement. "We accept full responsibility for our failures and for the chain of events that led to this regrettable treatment of our guests."
Last week, CBS San Francisco reported that 35 people traveled from Oakland to wine country on what was called "The Wine Soul Train," a response to the Napa Valley Wine Train incident.