Jury Awards Car Salesman $750,000 in Bias Lawsuit : Discrimination: Former assistant manager of a Gardena Toyota dealership said he was victim of racial slurs and jokes.

A Torrance jury has awarded a black man from Orange County $750,000 after finding that supervisors at the Toyota dealership he worked for harassed him with racial jokes and slurs, including a reference to lynching.

After a two-week trial in Torrance Superior Court, the jury found that Montgomery Roberts, 37, of Laguna Beach was harassed by two managers and improperly fired after working as an assistant sales manager at South Bay Toyota in Gardena from July, 1990, to May, 1991.

Roberts had charged in his suit that the managers repeatedly referred to him as nigger and uppity nigger. One supervisor, Roberts said, told him: “We used to lynch niggers where I come from,” and then pulled up his tie to mimic a hanging.

“There is a God,” Roberts said after the jury ruled in his favor Monday, dispelling his qualms about the lack of black jurors in his case.

Roberts’ suit, heard before Superior Court Judge J. Gary Hastings, alleged racial discrimination, wrongful termination of employment, intentional infliction of emotional stress and negligent supervision.

The jury on Monday awarded him $600,000 in general damages for lost wages and emotional stress.

After more testimony Tuesday, it ordered the dealership and its parent company, Sapporo Toyota of Los Angeles, to pay $125,000 in punitive damages. Sales manager Frank Montebello was ordered to pay $10,000, and general manager Nick Newmeyer was ordered to pay $14,500.

Roberts’ attorney, Jack Anthony, had asked the jury for $1.9 million in punitive damages from the dealership, $50,000 from Montebello and $75,000 from Newmeyer.

“Money is an issue, but it is not the issue,” Roberts said. “I wanted an example to be set.”

James Lewis, the attorney for the three defendants, called the awards excessive and said he intends to appeal on the ground that his clients cannot afford to pay the sums.

During the trial, Lewis sought to cast doubt on Roberts’ claim that he was harassed, alleging that he was a willing participant in workplace joshing meant to alleviate stress.

Lewis further questioned why Roberts would return to the dealership after being dismissed in November, 1990, for insubordination, if the harassment was so bad. Lewis said he doubted Roberts’ claim that he returned because he needed the job and because he believed assurances from managers that the jokes and slurs would stop.

Lewis said racial jokes and slurs regularly were exchanged among the multiracial staff of 140, but in a lighthearted way.

“Everybody picked on everybody,” Lewis said.

Roberts was fired again in May, 1991. Lewis denied Roberts was dismissed on racial grounds, saying he simply did not get along with his supervisors.

“The man was fired because of personality conflict,” Lewis said. “He and Frank Montebello constantly argued about everything. (Roberts) did not like the way he was told to do things.”

Nevertheless, jurors said they felt the dealership and employees should have known that racial slurs should not be tolerated.

“The joking and making statements about people’s race has been a no-no for years,” said juror Roger Robinette, 47, a manager at Nissan Corp. “We were looking at it not being acceptable at any time.”

The jury, however, declined to award large punitive damages because it believed the dealership “has taken care of the problem and is sensitive to it, and it’s probably not going on now,” Robinette said.

For Roberts, the close of the trial ends almost three years of personal turmoil, he said.

For 10 years, he said, he had worked without problems at other Toyota dealerships, having been trained in the company’s sales and management program. A friend referred him to South Bay Toyota, which had an opening for assistant sales manager, a job Roberts considered a steppingstone to higher management.

The harassment began shortly after he began working there, Roberts said.

“They would talk black jargon and say every demeaning black joke you can think of,” Roberts said outside of court.

He complained about the jokes, but the employees persisted, Roberts said.

After he was fired in November, he agreed to return only because he needed the job, Roberts said, and was assured the atmosphere would improve.

It didn’t, he said, and what he called the “last straw” came in May, 1991, when Montebello denied him a $300 commission after Roberts helped another salesman make a deal.

“When they took my money, that was it,” Roberts said.

Roberts works at another Toyota dealership now, but declined to say where, worrying that it would cause problems if his colleagues there knew about the suit.

Anthony said he was happy with the verdict but not as pleased about the punitive damages that were awarded.

“I would have hoped for a larger amount. They saw it our way for the most part,” he said.

South Bay Toyota officials testified that the company’s net worth was about $270,000, and Montebello and Newmeyer said their assets do not come close to what Anthony was seeking.

But Anthony remained confident that Roberts would get the money, asserting that bankruptcy would not protect the defendants from paying the judgment.

“It’s collectible,” he said.