A federal jury has awarded a former waitress at a Williamstown diner $150,000 after the owner and several co-workers habitually made derogatory and racist comments about her fiancé, who is black.
MONROE TWP. -- An appellate court has upheld a ruling for a former waitress at a Williamstown diner who had alleged the diner's owner and several co-workers made derogatory and racist remarks about her fiance, who is black, and their two bi-racial children.
A Superior Court jury previously awarded $150,000 to Arielle Norton, a former waitress at Peter's Diner on South Black Horse Pike from December 2010 to May 2011.
During the trial in February 2014, Norton, who is white, claimed she was repeatedly exposed to disparaging comments by the diner's owner, Angelo Giannakaris, his son, Dimitris, and several co-workers.
Giannakaris claimed that he fired Norton for accidentally dropping and breaking a dish, but Norton argued that she was fired in "retaliation for her repeated complaints about the harassing comments."
The Superior Court jury had ultimately ruled in Norton's favor on all counts, awarding her $50,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages, court documents indicated.
The trial judge had denied Giannakaris' motions for a new trial and for the the amount of damages awarded to Norton to be remitted.
According to court documents, a co-worker who saw a picture of Norton's son allegedly asked her, "Why is he so dark?"
When Norton replied that her son was mixed race, the female co-worker "just said, 'Are you serious?' And then walked away."
Another co-worker allegedly said to Norton, "I heard your son was a little brother," the complaint said.
Giannakaris had allegedly asked Norton on several occasions, "How's that black bum doing?" or "How's the bum boyfriend?"
Though Norton found these comments "painful and highly insulting," she initially tried to remain composed, she said.
But the situation intensified, and the comments became increasingly intolerable. She had heard Giannakaris' son, Dimitris, who was about 20 years old at the time, use a racial slur to describe black customers.
On May 29, 2011, about a week after Norton had told Giannakaris to stop making the remarks, she accidentally dropped a plate, the complaint said.
Giannakaris allegedly came up behind her and demanded to know why she had dropped the dish. According to Norton, the confrontation became "emotionally overbearing and physically menacing."
She claimed he used racial slurs and vulgar language as he berated her.
"He's yelling at me -- yelling so bad he's like spitting on me," she claimed in testimony.
A former co-worker testified during the trial and corroborated several of the derogatory statements that Norton had claimed were said to her.
Giannakaris appealed the decision, arguing the trial judge made multiple legal errors during the trial and that the eventual verdict was against the weight of the evidence.
The appellate court denied Giannakaris' arguments and upheld the initial decision.
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
