Jury: $1M to Oregon woman told ‘I don’t serve Black people’

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury has awarded an Oregon woman $1 million in damages after finding she was discriminated against by a gas station employee who told her, “I don’t serve Black people.” The Multnomah County jury’s award to 63-year-old Rose Wakefield, of Portland, this week included punitive damages of $550,000. Her lawyer says Wakefield stopped for fuel at Jacksons Food Store in Beaverton in 2020 and saw the attendant ignore her and pump gas for other drivers before making that comment. Wakefield complained twice to managers, but her lawyer says those calls were largely disregarded. Jacksons Food Stores said the company has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and that it respectfully disagrees with the jury’s ruling.