My Turn
Sassounian: Armenian Vendors Sue Americana for Violating Their Civil Rights
I reported last month that the Americana shopping center in Glendale had banned three Armenian vendors from selling genocide-related T-shirts from their rented carts.
Shortly after my column was posted on the internet, generating a flood of complaints against the shopping center, Americana’s management issued the following statement on its Facebook page: “We would like to apologize to our cart tenants Tina Chuldzhyan, Alex Kodagolian, and Armin Hariri, for the regrettable misunderstanding
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I dissent. This is shameful.
The plaintiffs and Odar lawyer have taken a small injustice and filed a ridiculous set of claims resulting in a loss of community sympathy and the appearance of greed. Mr. Foster has harmed the reputation of his clients and Armenians. They should have accepted the apology and asked quietly and modestly to be compensated for the few shirts they did not sell.
42 USC Section 1983 applies to state actors and perhaps private parties controlled by state actors. The private stupid decision of a mall property manager was not on orders of the government.
42 USC Section 1985 prohibits conspiracies to abridge federal civil rights. Again, there is no federal civil right at issue, and there does not appear to be a conspiracy either.
The third claim is even more laughable. The Unruh Act prohibits discrimination based on status, such as ethnicity. It does not reach discrimination based on behavior, such as selling a shirt that some customers reportedly did not like. The fact that the mall leases to Armenians is proof that it does not discriminate in leasing space.
Business and Professions Code Section 17200 also will fail. First, the plaintiffs must have an actual injury in fact. Second, the law, however broad, probably does not reach the mall’s instruction that a particular t shirt not be sold, no matter how idiotic the reason.
The breach of contract claim will fail first because the mall withdrew and apologized for the instruction. It might work only if contract language protect’s the kiosk’s expectation expressly to sell the shirt. It is extremely unlikely that any such contract exists. More likely that the mall extended a limited license revocable without cause, and reserving the right to disapprove offensive merchandise. The government may not prohibit offensive speech in most places, but private property owners may. They also have no real damages from the momentary breach.
Punitive damages are ridiculous. They are available only for malice, oppression or fraud. The law limits them to a small multiple of compensatory damages, which would be the profit on unsold shirts, if that.
I can hear Turk lobby lawyers calling the mall offering to represent them for free. They will turn it into a case about the rights of our enemy, say Mr. Perincek, to shop without seeing messages about what his killer ancestors did.
“They will turn it into a case about the rights of our enemy,”
Is that how you view Turks? The enemy?
Hey, give the rest of us some credit. No matter what percentage of customers are Armenian, Americana is being insensitive and disrespectful to the ENTIRE community. All of us, Armenian or not, have the right to see a variety of merchandise and decide for ourselves what to buy. All of us, Armenian or not, should be offended and join in the protest.
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m certainly very glad that our three Armenian compatriots filed a lawsuit against the anti-Armenian, civil rights abusing Americana shopping center. And how amusing it is that only after this particular action did the Americana finally lift its ban on the sale of products related to the Armenian Genocide. This again shows what a hypocritical, crooked corporation the Americana really is. But then again, many of the other large U.S. corporations also fit this classification.
I also hope that Glendale’s Armenian residents are boycotting the products and services of the Americana shopping center. By doing this, at least for a period of time, will send a very clear message to the Americana management that without Armenian customers (Armenians constitute around fifty percent of Glendale’s population), their sales revenues will sink enormously. As Glendale’s Mayor Sinanyan correctly stated, the Americana shopping center’s relationship with the Armenian community has been “tarnished.” Hopefully, the Americana’s scum management will learn their lesson from all of this.