Court revives black TV network's discrimination lawsuit

Notable Attorneys

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit claiming that a North Carolina city discriminated against an African-American-owned television network.

A divided three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday reversed a lower court decision that dismissed the lawsuit against the City of Greensboro.


Black Network Television claims the city rescinded a $300,000 economic development loan because of race. The city says race had nothing to do with it.

Senior Judge Andre Davis wrote that the network provided enough evidence to make its discrimination claim plausible.

Judge Harvie Wilkinson III said in his dissent that the network presented "nothing more than bare speculation" that race impacted the city's decision.

Greensboro could ask the full court to hear the case. City attorneys didn't immediately return messages Friday.

Related listings

  • California court expands endangered-species removal powers

    California court expands endangered-species removal powers

    Notable Attorneys 03/02/2017

    The California Supreme Court on Monday said petitioners seeking to remove a subset of coho salmon from the state's endangered species list could present new evidence to argue the listing was wrong. In a unanimous ruling, the court overturned a lower ...

  • Joseph Wapner, star of 'The People's Court,' dead at 97

    Joseph Wapner, star of 'The People's Court,' dead at 97

    Notable Attorneys 03/01/2017

    Joseph Wapner, the retired Los Angeles judge who presided over "The People's Court" with steady force during the heyday of the reality courtroom show, died Sunday at age 97. Son David Wapner told The Associated Press that his father died at home in h...

  • Court ponders mass murderer Breivik's prison conditions

    Court ponders mass murderer Breivik's prison conditions

    Notable Attorneys 01/19/2017

    An appeals court in Norway is considering whether the prison conditions under which mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is being held amount to a violation of his human rights. The six-day trial ended Wednesday in a makeshift courtroom inside Skien ...

Texas Adopts Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban

Effective September 1, 2017, Texas will become the 47th state to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving. Governor Abbott’s signing of House Bill 62 is an effort to unify Texas under a uniform ban and remedy the “patchwork quilt of regulations that dictate driving practices in Texas.”

The bill specifically prohibits drivers from reading, writing, or sending an electronic message on a device unless the vehicle is stopped. That includes texting and emailing. It does not, however, prohibit dialing a number to call someone, talking on the phone using a hands-free device, or using the phone’s GPS system.

Violations would be punishable by a fine ranging from $25 to $99, to be set by each municipality. Although penalties could rise to as much as $200 for repeat offenders.

Studies have found that a driver’s reaction time is half as much when a driver is distracted by sending or reading a text message. According to state officials, in 2015 more than 105,000 traffic accidents in Texas involved distracted driving, leading to at least 476 fatalities.

Business News

New York Adoption and Family Law Attorneys Our attorneys have represented adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoption agencies. >> read