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Campbell vs. Amtrak
On March 3, 2009, a federal jury in Oakland issued a verdict against Amtrak for
$677,000 for Race Discrimination toward John Earl Campbell, an African-American
Conductor. The nine person jury unanimously found that race was “the motivating
factor” in Amtrak’s refusal to promote Mr. Campbell and its decision to fire him.
Mr. Campbell proved that he was a victim of Joe Deely, Amtrak’s General Manager,
whose reign of bigotry began in 1993 and persists up until today. Numerous witnesses
testified about the frequent use of racial slurs by Deely and other top Amtrak Managers
at the Oakland Yard. Mr. Campbell worked as a Conductor in Oakland and San
Francisco between 1998 and 2004. His applications for Engineer Training were
repeatedly rejected by Amtrak during that time.
Mr. Campbell also alleged that Amtrak discriminated against him and other African-
American employees in training opportunities, and singled out anyone who complained
about the unfair treatment with harsh disciplinary actions. Mr. Campbell alleged that
when he complained about race discrimination, Amtrak failed to investigate his
complaints and retaliated against him for making such complaints.
In 2004, another federal jury awarded $500,000 to Abner Morgan, Jr., an African-
American Electrician who suffered race discrimination, racial harassment and
retaliation by Amtrak’s Oakland Yard Managers. In the Morgan trial, a former Amtrak
Manager testified that Amtrak’s Managers regularly enjoyed watching one of the top
Managers perform the “Shuffle Butt Ni—er” dance in the office at night. (See Morgan
v. Amtrak, 232 F.3d 1008 (9th Cir. 2000), 536 U.S. 101. 112 S.Ct. 1516 (2002).)
In 1997, Conductor Mary Gotthardt was awarded more than $1,000,000 against Amtrak
by a federal judge after a jury found that Amtrak’s Managers under Joe Deely’s
supervision created a sexually hostile work environment for Ms. Gotthardt. (Gotthardt
v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., 191 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir. 1999).)
Mr. Campbell is represented by Oakland Attorneys Pamela Y. Price and Daniel
Martinez de la Vega of Price And Associates and Kendra Fox-Davis of the Lawyers’
Committee for Civil Rights. Amtrak is represented by Attorneys Patrick Mullin and
Dylan Carp of Jackson Lewis.
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