For Nicholas Alozie, winning a discrimination lawsuit against a large company was not about money - he wanted to make a statement.
On Aug. 19, the ASU Polytechnic campus professor won a discrimination lawsuit against The Mills Corp., the company that owns Arizona Mills.
Alozie, head of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Polytechnic campus, won $100,000 in damages.
"It's part of our role to help within our community. Action needed to be taken," Alozie said.
Alozie's store opened in Arizona Mills in 1999 under a temporary lease. The shop's purpose was to bring genuine art from Africa to the public.
"It was a specific interest," Alozie said. "People were always complaining that there was no authentic African art available."
A year later, Arizona Mills management told him temporary space was no longer available, and he would have to sign a permanent lease. Other stores remained open with temporary leases during this time, Alozie said.
Alozie said he was being discriminated against when he was asked to sign a permanent lease for his African arts store while other shops with temporary leases were allowed to remain open.
In the case, Alozie also alleged that the different treatment he received forced him to close his store.
The punitive fine of $100,000 didn't send a very strong message, but it was a moral victory, and it gave him a sense of validation, Alozie said.
But the court's decision on the issue was split. The jury agreed Alozie was being discriminated against but rejected the argument that he was forced to close his store.
"We are pleased that the jury recognized that the plaintiff was not entitled to any recovery on his claims," Arizona Mills said in a statement released shortly after the verdict.
"We believe, however, that neither the nominal award (of $1) nor the punitive damages that were assessed against the defendants are supported by the evidence. We have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind, and we adhere to state and federal guidelines to ensure a safe, quality shopping environment for all of our shoppers," the statement said.
Alozie first realized there was a problem when employees began complaining about discrimination.
"We had a situation where security was harassing my employees. My employees were having difficulties parking their vehicles," he said.
Alozie said he isn't likely to return to Arizona Mills, but he would eventually like to reopen his shop.
Reach the reporter at nicole.arrow@asu.edu.
