Bank of America loses bid to cut back bias lawsuit
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge has rejected Bank of America Corp's attempt to throw out part of a lawsuit accusing it of discriminating against African-American bankers and brokers, court papers show.
The lawsuit, filed in May with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and which seeks class-action status, had accused the second-largest U.S. bank of regularly discriminating with respect to work assignments, training and access to clients.
Plaintiffs said Bank of America had regularly "steered" African-American bankers and brokers to largely minority or low-net-worth clients, and that the bank believed clients were more "comfortable" dealing with people of their own race.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner on Thursday rejected the bank's bid to dismiss some claims under Massachusetts law, court records show. She also rejected the bank's bid to move the case to Georgia, where the bank said most of the events at issue, documents and witnesses are located, the records show.
In an e-mailed statement, Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said, "There was no ruling on the motion. A procedural action was taken."
Norton also said the bank has a record of hiring and developing workers and does not tolerate discrimination.
Norton added, "We intend to vigorously defend against the claims in the lawsuit."
The plaintiffs are seeking a halt to the alleged improper practices, compensatory damages and punitive damages. They filed an amended complaint last week to add a sixth named plaintiff.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Gary Hill, Richard Chang)
