Lawsuit alleges NY club barred invited guests because of race

By Jean Shin
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) - A $6 billion class-action lawsuit claims African-American guests invited to a private event at a New York nightclub were refused admittance because of their race.

An attorney for the club, meanwhile, claims the massive suit is a publicity stunt by the author who scheduled the private event to celebrate her new book.

Teri Woods, the African-American author of a series of best-selling thrillers, booked space at Greenhouse, a club in Manhattan's Soho section, to celebrate the launch of her new book, "Alibi," on August 6. According to Woods, the majority of her 175 guests were denied entrance into the club by doormen because the guests are African-American. Of the few guests who were allowed in, most are white, she said.

Kashan Robinson and Maria Sicard, two of the guests who said they were left outside, filed a class-action complaint on October 6 at the Bronx Supreme Court against the club, on behalf of people who were "directly or indirectly affected by the incident," said their attorney, John Nonnenmacher. According to the complaint, they "waited outside for more than 2 hours, as Teri Woods attempted to convince the management of Greenhouse to allow her guests to enter… Moreover, they were forced to suffer the indignity of watching a stream of white patron allowed in, while they were denied access."

The guests also claimed that they were subjected to comments with racial innuendo while waiting outside, which Nonnenmacher described as "references to 'you people' and comments about how 'it wasn't hip-hop night.'"

An attorney for the club's owners rejected those claims at a press conference Thursday. "Make no bones about it, this case is not about race. This case is a publicity stunt by Ms. Woods, just to increase book sales," said attorney John Sampson

After introducing four of the five owners of Greenhouse, two of whom are African-American, Sampson stressed what he described as the diversity at club saying, "If you look at the employees of Greenhouse, there are about 100 employees, and they are reflective of what New York State looks like."

According to Sampson, four of the employees who were working the door the evening of the party are also African-American.