PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2011

MEDIA CONTACTS
Gina Snow, 415-563-5333
gsnow@gsacommunications.com
John Fonseca, 510-452-0292
mlkfirm@pypesq.com

SETTLEMENT OF $725,000 REACHED in FOBBS v. NEW HAVEN UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT LAWSUIT

Thirteen (13) Remedial Steps to be Implemented Aimed at Curbing Racial Gang Violence Against African American Youth in Union City Schools

(Hayward, CA – June 23, 2011) Today, Oakland civil rights Attorney Pamela Y. Price of Price And Associates held a press conference at NAACP offices to announce the terms of a $725,000 settlement in the Fobbs, et al v. New Haven Unified School District (NHUSD), et al class action lawsuit. The settlement, approved at the NHUSD school board meeting on Tuesday, June 21st, includes thirteen (13) remedial policies and programs to be implemented by the District in an effort to curb racial violence against African American youth in their schools.

“The violence against African American youth in Union City has been going on unchecked for years, and it has to stop now,” said Attorney Price. “Students have been afraid to walk to school or use public transit due to the random violence against them. It is my hope, and that of the community and the families affected, that the $725,000 settlement will spur the District to forcefully implement the remedial steps that have been negotiated to alleviate the atmosphere of violence that incubates in their schools.”

The class action lawsuit was filed in state and federal court under Federal and State civil rights laws by Oakland civil rights attorneys Pamela Y. Price and John L. Burris on behalf of Alvett Fobbs (the named plaintiff in this case) and six (6) families, including twelve individual students or former students, and a class of African-American students attending school in Union City. The intention of the suit was to stimulate the District into taking strong measures to protect African-American students and stop the gang-inspired racially-motivated attacks in their Union City schools, which they have failed to do over many years.

Alvett Fobbs, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) officials, Union City and Hayward community leaders also commented on the settlement and their hope of what the remedial steps will mean to their children and the community at-large in alleviating violence.

For many years, Plaintiffs and/or their predecessors have been subjected to violence, threats of violence and intimidation by Latino gangs operating freely in Union City. A series of random and racially-motivated attacks against African-American youth, many of whom have been stabbed, beaten and assaulted, has escalated for years.

On December 21, 2007, fourteen (14) year old Vernon Eddins was shot and killed in broad daylight on the steps of Barnard White Middle School in Union City. In the month before his murder, Vernon and his friends, several of whom are Plaintiffs in the case, had been repeatedly chased and beaten by the Decoto gang. In January 2010, eight Union City African American teenagers, one of whom was wearing a sweatshirt with a picture of Vernon Eddins on it, were shot at while at Hayward’s Southland Mall. Vernon Eddins’ murder and the brazen Southland Mall shootings were just two of numerous incidents.

The gunmen involved are still at-large. A $35,000 reward offered in 2009 by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for information leading to the capture and conviction of Eddins' killer is still being offered.

A separate lawsuit, FOBBS v. Union City Police Department, regarding the constitutional provision of equal protection under the law, is pending.

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About Pamela Y. Price, Esq.
Price And Associates was founded by Attorney Pamela Y. Price in June 1991. Celebrating its twentieth anniversary advocating for justice, the Firm has become known for its involvement in several high-profile sexual harassment, racial and employment discrimination cases, including its victory in the United States Supreme Court in Morgan v. Amtrak, 232 F.3d 1008 (9th Cir. 2000), 536 U.S. 101, 112 S.Ct. 1516 (2002). Attorney Price is currently the co-chair of The San Francisco Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. Since 2004, she has been selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer by her peers and through independent research by Super Lawyers Magazine. After receiving a degree in Political Science from Yale University in 1978, Attorney Price attended Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley where she received her J.D. and a Master’s degree in Jurisprudence & Social Policy in 1982. Attorney Price started her career practicing civil and criminal law in the Bayview-Hunter’s Point district in San Francisco. After ten (10) years in practice, she founded the law firm of Price And Associates in Oakland, CA with the vision to establish a minority and woman-owned litigation firm specializing in civil rights cases. Representing men and women of all races, the Firm’s mission is to provide access to justice. The Firm moved into new offices at 901 Clay Street near City Center in downtown Oakland, CA in March 2011. For more information, visit www.pypesq.com.

[NOTE: ADDENDUM WITH 13 REMEDIAL PROVISIONS AND PROGRAMS IS AVAILABLE..]