Article: Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: May 28, 2007

Despite what attorney Patrick Reavey described as convincing evidence, a Jackson County jury still struggled in reaching a verdict for a black plaintiff last week.

After a day and a half of deliberations, which included a hammer instruction from Judge Justine Del Muro, a ninth juror finally signed the verdict form awarding the plaintiff, Clay Fountain, $101,000 for his retaliatory-termination claim.

"The evidence that came out was one-sided," Reavey said. "It was pretty clear the defendant had done what we accused him of. Frankly, some of the jurors indicated to me that some of the holdouts had a problem with giving a black guy a bunch of money."

In his lawsuit, Fountain, 50, claimed his ...

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