A man who was denied a red nylon tote bag during a Mother’s Day promotion at an Angels baseball game has filed a sex and age discrimination lawsuit against the team.
The class action claim filed by Michael Cohn, a Los Angeles psychologist, alleges that thousands of males and fans under age 18 are entitled to $4,000 in damages each because they were treated unequally at last May’s promotion. Women over 18 received the gifts.
Angel officials said Cohn was the only person who complained about the giveaway and that the team is proud of its promotions.
“Historically, we have tried to appeal on those special days that might be nationally noted holidays or special occasions,” team spokesman Tim Mead said, adding he could not comment directly on the suit because he hadn’t seen it. “We have tailored programs or giveaways accordingly.”
The team responded to a complaint letter that Cohn wrote last June by sending him four tote bags and a letter stating the team “ran out of the item that day and had to order more.”
“They claimed they didn’t have any more bags, but my client said there was a mountain of bags stacked so high a show dog couldn’t have jumped over them,” said Alfred Rava, Cohn’s San Diego-based attorney.
I think fans of dog shows are associated with enough negative stereotypes as is, thanks.
The LA Times’ Dave McKibben has more on this fascinating story :
This year’s Family Sunday promotion, to be held this weekend, will not specifically cater to women 18 and older. The first 25,000 fans ” male or female ” 18 or older will be given a red “Mother’s Day Ladies Tote Bag.”
Mead declined to say whether the change to this year’s promotion was made in response to Cohn’s complaint.
“It was done after a lot of internal discussions,” he said.
Rava said the giveaway still violated some fans’ civil rights because those under 18 will be denied a bag based on their age.
“By looking at the bag, you can see a 17-year-old male or female would be just as happy with it as an 18-year-old male or female,” Rava said. “I don’t know why the Angels and Bryman College had a seemingly contrived cutoff for this ageless bag.”
In the unlikely event there are any 17 year olds of either gender who are upset at not receiving this flimsy item, surely the Angels can think of a creative way to avoid further litigation. Perhaps an opportunity to sample the contents of another sort of bag with Halos microphone fiend Rex Hudler, a broadcaster so verbose, he’ll have you wondering when Bill Walton took up calling baseball games?
People like this one with the ” I’ll find a reason to sue is part of the problem in our courtrooms today. He should be laughed out of court and made to pay for ALL costs.
This so called lawyer named Alfred Rava is responsible for ending “ladies night†in many clubs in the San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles Area. He has made over 125K dollars in San Diego alone in sexual discrimination lawsuites…
He and a bunch of his lawer friends are also sueing the Oakland A’s for not recieving the Mothers Day promotions in 2004…
Im not quite sure, but i think his email is [email protected] you can google that email address to see where i got it from
In my opinion, Rava is nothing but a bottom feeding mucksucker — a festering scab on the ass of law-abiding society. Instead of using his legal knowledge to make California a safer, fairer place, he has sought and found an easy and convenient (and for now, legal) way to get rich quickly by shaking down any business on the blatantly false pretense of self-righteous heroism. I call bull$hit. Who other than this pompous gas bag and his fellow racketeer cronies has pocketed a red cent out of all the shakedown money they’ve leached out of legitimate businesses? Who has benefitted from this abuse of the Unruh Act, other than yourself, Mr. Rava?
This is no different from a mafia racket, and yet another justification for the pervasive public sentiment that lawyers are corrupt garbage who utimately serve no one but themselves. Lawyers like Rava are not unlike people who aspire to become priests so that they can get away with sodomizing little boys. Of course in this case, it’s the whole of California who is taking this one up the arse. It’s just too bad that the state Bar hasn’t the integrity nor the gonads to put a stop to this sort of abuse.
for those of us who covet bright red vinyl girly bags but have been denied such items by a) cheapskate motherfuckers who run baseball teams and b) a cruel society that says men shouldn’t be allowed to sashay in public with bright red vinyl girly bags, Mr. Rava is nothing less than a Freedom Fighter in the rich tradition of Ghandi and Martin Luther King. You go, girl!
Take a look at Michal Cohn’s history — maybe he should pay his child support with his winnings! What a jerk!
He lost his case today.
http://lexicon.typepad.com/lexicon/2007/02/angels_baseball.html
Soiling our noble justice system with this kind of drivel is a monument to moral bankruptcy and an affront to the courts and to society as a whole.
Now that the judge in the Angels’ Mothers’ Day suit has thrown the case out, we can only hope that the dismissal is followed by sanctions including lawyers’ fees.
Al baby, crawl back under the rock from whence you came, eh?