State officials offer $49,000 settlement over racial slur

Acting against advice from their chief attorney, state university system officials have offered a $49,000 settlement to the wife of a key state lawmaker after a former community college administrator made a racially offensive reference to her.

Zelda Williams, who is black, is expected to collect $49,000 from the Community College of Southern Nevada to settle a legal complaint she filed against the state's public higher education system following the use of a racial epithet in August 2001 by Mike Meyer, a top-ranking community college official who eventually resigned over the incident.

Zelda Williams is the wife of Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. The committee proposes and reviews legislation that deals with the state's public school systems and higher education.

The payment could be made during the current legislative session, as lawmakers consider raising taxes in part to help cover soaring education costs.

Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington said Friday he hopes the settlement quickly will be paid to Zelda Williams.

"I'm happy to bring this to closure," Remington said about the settlement that was agreed upon last week by University and Community College System of Nevada Chancellor Jane Nichols. "It is a large amount of money, but it's important to show that we do the right thing."

Remington said the college will use student revenues from such sources as bookstore and vending sales to cover the vast majority of the settlement. Remington said he did not feel any greater pressure to settle the case because it involved the wife of an important lawmaker in the ongoing session of the Nevada Legislature.

Remington and Nichols moved quickly to settle the case and disregarded advice from university system chief attorney Tom Ray and a tort claims administrator with the state attorney general's office. According to a letter from Ray to Remington and Nichols, the tort claims administrator said an offer of $5,000 should be made to Zelda Williams.

"In our opinion, an offer in excess of $5,000 should not be extended at this stage of the litigation," Ray said in the March 10 letter.

The Board of Regents, the state's elected higher education governing board, is not required to approve the settlement. The offer comes just under the $50,000 threshold that would have required approval by the state Board of Examiners. The Board of Examiners publicly discusses proposed legal settlements that come before the appointed panel for a vote.

In August 2001, Zelda Williams was within earshot of Meyer when he made the offensive remark to a colleague who was about to meet with the lawmaker's wife to advise her on college matters. While waiting for her meeting with college lobbyist John Cummings, prospective student Zelda Williams overheard Meyer remark in reference to Cummings' meeting with her, "She's a nigger, and niggers are never on time." Days later, Meyer publicly apologized, called the remark a stupid mistake and resigned under pressure from Remington and others.

Months later, attorney Richard Segerblom, representing Zelda Williams, filed a federal lawsuit against the community college and Meyer, seeking $1.5 million in damages for emotional distress and negligent oversight of an employee. That lawsuit was dismissed last year, but Segerblom filed a second similar complaint in District Court.

In his letter, Ray pointed out a summary judgment could come in the District Court case, stopping it from going to trial. "We have not had the opportunity to conduct any discovery that would inform us whether Mrs. Williams ever saw a health care professional or received treatment for the alleged emotional distress," Ray said.

Ray, whose office handles multiple harassment and discrimination complaints at any given time, said Meyer's remark was "probably extreme and outrageous" but likely would fail other legal tests. "As he (Meyer) did not know she was within earshot and did not intend the remark to be overheard, it probably was not intended to cause emotional distress and was not said with reckless disregard as to the probability that it would cause her severe emotional distress," Ray said in the letter.

Remington said the $49,000 settlement was agreed to in part to send the message to the community that the college has an inclusive environment that supports the state's most diverse population of college students.

Wendell Williams, who did not return a phone call Friday, has said previously that his wife had a right to seek damages for the hardships she endured. Wendell Williams has said he did not see any potential conflict of interest in the possibility of his wife collecting damages from a college that has its funding determined every two years by the Legislature.

For about a year, the possibility of a settlement has been on the table. But previous offers were too small for Zelda Williams, Segerblom said.

"She wasn't just going to roll over and say, 'Oh, poor university system. I'll just accept $1,000,' " Segerblom said.

The $49,000 settlement agreement shows the university system recognized Zelda Williams' complaint was more than a nuisance complaint, Segerblom said. "I think it is reasonable in all senses," he said.

As a state government agency, the University and Community College System of Nevada is protected by a $50,000 cap in damages in District Court civil cases. Meyer also could have been under the protection of the $50,000 cap, because the university system agreed to defend him.

Mark Ghan, the staff attorney defending the university system in the Zelda Williams case, did not return a phone call seeking comment Friday.

In May 2002, Ghan said he argued that the federal case should be dismissed in part because of rulings in similar cases elsewhere. "The uttering of a racial slur on one occasion does not give rise to a federal cause of action," he said. "It does not violate your constitutional rights, although it may be reprehensible."

In late 2001, Ray said that if the college acted promptly to address the problem then it would be more difficult for Zelda Williams to win her case. The college did act promptly in this case, Ray said.

On Friday, Segerblom said the university system faced the possibility of high outside legal fees in its defense of Meyer if the case went to trial. "It was going to cost them more to defend this thing than to settle it," Segerblom said.

It's just a word. The usual response to an insult is to turn the other cheek, or say something equally rude back, and then go on about your business and forget about it. That works for millions of other people every day, and it'd have worked there too.

I live too close to DC and get to experience this kind of friction almost every day. It's a fact of life in a heterogenous culture. If every offensive comment received a reaction like this one did, society could not function and everyone would starve. The only way to keep things running at all is to trivialize problems as they crop up. The alternative is to make a mountain out of a molehill as happened here, and sooner or later the mountain will get big enough to derail the country.

What? How did this man know she was black for him to make this comment? Are all white people punctual? Where does he get off making comments like this? Did he know this woman personally to make such an assessment or, in typical racist fashion, he just assumed all blacks were like that, based on the FEW that he's probably met? It's a trip how whites don't like to be painted with a broad brush by blacks (i.e. all whites are racists) yet some seem to have no problem tarring all black people like that. Amazing!

I guess I'll be the dissenting view and say that I'm glad the woman got that settlement and only wished she would have taken this to court. Fact is, that college is responsible for the actions of their faculty. Some say that she should have sued the man only, not the school but I disagree. Call me liberal or whatever but this man's racist feelings didn't just "pop up" out of nowhere and no one can convince me that someone in the school didn't know about them. He probably was saying all manner of racist garbage for months or years. This time, though, the "right" person heard his racist spew and he got caught.

Sticks and stones, my foot! This word has been used to denigrate blacks for years. And before anyone "goes there" and brings up the rappers, don't waste your time. I don't support them or their use of this word. It only gives racists the excuse to keep using it.

I'm with her husband. She should have taken this to court.

Where does he get off making comments like this?

Meyer didn't "get off". He resigned.
And IMHO, he definitely should have been terminated, with loss of all benefits.

I'm with her husband. She should have taken this to court.

If Williams wants to personally sue Meyer in court, it is fine with me.
Meyer should be held personally accountable for his actions.
But I don't see where Williams is entitled to any financial compensation from the university itself.
Afterall, she didn't incurr any financial loss from this incident.
Besides, suing the university won't teach anybody a lesson. It's "other people's money" as far as the administration goes. If Williams collects from the University, it either takes away from students, or increases the costs that students (and taxpayers) must pay.

If you want to teach racists a lesson by suing them, you have to go after them personally.
Other than that, the Williams are simply acting like they hit the jackpot at taxpayers expense.

I'll agree with you partly and disagree partly. This man said a reprehensible thing and dismissal was appropriate. That having been done, I believe that is all the action this woman should have received for satisfaction. The purpose of a tort lawsuit is to compensate the victim for harm received. I know there have been ridiculous tort windfalls in the past -- I'm against those too. Here, a woman, called the worst name you could call her, receives $50,000. I doubt she suffered enough harm to be worth a years salary. In fact, i believe she was probably able to keep right on going with her normal life.

And remember, that's our money being paid to her.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.