A popular California Bay Area restaurant has closed its doors after settling a costly discrimination lawsuit over its “Ladies' Night” promotion.
Lima Restaurant — a family-run Peruvian restaurant in Concord, California, about 20 miles outside of Oakland — told its customers it would serve its final meal on New Year's Eve due to a gender discrimination lawsuit.
Chef/owner John Marquez said the lawsuit, which was filed last year, cost his restaurant tens of thousands of dollars, severely impacting the company's cash flow.
“We have not fully recovered from the recent discrimination lawsuit related to our ladies' night discount,” as well as the company's escalating operating costs, Marquez told KRON-TV.
The restaurant, which has been open for nearly a decade, has been holding a “Ladies Night” promotion once a week — offering half-price drinks and wine for three hours to its female patrons — for the past several years.
Marquez said he believes the people behind the lawsuit are not local residents, but rather “ambulance-chasing lawyers” looking to take advantage of state law.
“It's a frivolous lawsuit that got us down,” Marquez told ABC7News.
News of the impending closure of Lima Restaurant was not well received by customers.
“Promoting one gender is not discrimination against one gender,” John Dias, one of the restaurant's patrons, told KRON-TV.
“Hello, I'm a lady. If you want to go out with girls, it doesn't seem rude,” added Mel Lodehuis, who was having his last drink in Lima with Dias.
Earlier this year, the Fresno Grizzlies, a minor league baseball team that serves as an affiliate for the Colorado Rockies, were hit with a similar discrimination lawsuit after they allowed free admission to women as part of their last “Ladies' Night” promotion. year.
The Grizzlies have been sued for $5 million, according to The Fresno Bee.
The plaintiffs in the Fresno Grizzlies case are represented by a San Diego-based attorney who reached an agreement on a $500,000 settlement from the Oakland Athletics in 2016 after it filed a class-action lawsuit against the baseball team over free plaid Mother's Day reversible bucket hats.
Attorney Alfred Raffa claimed in the lawsuit that he was the victim of sexual discrimination by the A's because he was not given a free reversible plaid bucket hat while pitching at an A's game on May 8, 2004.
In 1985, the California Supreme Court ruled that similar “Ladies' Day” promotions at businesses such as car washes and nightclubs violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act of 1959.
State law prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, or immigration status.
California isn't the only state where courts have ruled that “ladies' night” shows could constitute unlawful discrimination.
Courts in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin have ruled in cases in which promotions on the basis of sex are illegal.
