Local News in Brief : Salon Owner, AIDS Victim Strike Accord
The owner of a Sunset Boulevard nail salon has struck a compromise to end a discrimination suit filed by the city of West Hollywood over the salon’s refusal to give a pedicure to an AIDS victim, the owner’s lawyer said Tuesday.
Jessica Vartoughian agreed to pay legal costs and to recognize the constitutionality of an ordinance protecting AIDS patients from discrimination, said attorney Paul J. Geragos.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 30, 1989 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday March 30, 1989 Home Edition Metro Part 2 Page 2 Column 5 Metro Desk 2 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
A headline in Wednesday’s Times incorrectly stated that a nail salon owner and an AIDS victim had settled a discrimination suit over refusal of service. The settlement was reached by the salon owner and the city of West Hollywood, which brought the suit. The victim is appealing a civil suit against the nail salon.
He said the agreement does not contain an admission of wrongdoing by Vartoughian or her employees, but is “merely an expression of the desire to terminate continuing criminal prosecution.”
The case was filed by the city in December, 1986, after Paul Jasperson, 37, a hairdresser afflicted with AIDS, complained that he was refused a pedicure. The ordinance prohibits businesses from denying employment, housing and commercial services to people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Jasperson is also appealing a civil suit against the nail salon.
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