Judge throws out award in wrongful termination case

Friday, Dec. 8, 2000 | 10:25 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GULFPORT, Miss. -- A federal judge threw out a $1 million award in a wrongful termination suit shortly before a settlement was reached in the case.

James Mitchell, who is white, claimed Grand Casinos fired him in 1997 for having sex with a black colleague. Grand has since been acquired by Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas.

Grand Casinos said Mitchell was fired because of the impropriety of a personnel director having sex with a subordinate. A jury ruled in favor of Mitchell in October.

U.S. District Court Judge Walter Gex granted the casino's motion for a new trial on Wednesday. Mitchell and the Grand then settled on an undisclosed sum.

Gex's written order for a new trial didn't say why he decided to throw out the jury verdict.

Grand Casinos made several arguments for a new trial. The company said the verdict went against the evidence presented during the trial and that Gex made an error by excluding evidence.

Mitchell was hired by Grand Casinos in 1993 to open the Biloxi resort and had been working in the casino industry for more than 20 years. When he was fired in August 1997, he had been making $105,000 a year.

Mitchell testified that he had sex with his assistant, LaVira Warren, during a two-night trip to the Hilton Hotel in Destin, Fla.

He said a casino executive later told him he had embarrassed the company by having sex with a black woman.

But Mitchell said the company had no policy against having sex with colleagues.

One of Grand Casinos' attorneys said during the trial that the company did have such a policy, even though it wasn't able to produce a written version of it for the trial.