Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co.

Thaddeus Edmonson (plaintiff), an African American construction worker, sued Leesville Concrete (defendant) for negligence in federal court; during jury selection, Leesville used two of its three peremptory challenges to remove African American prospective jurors, and the court denied Edmonson's request to require race-neutral justifications, reasoning the case was civil rather than criminal. The resulting jury of eleven white jurors and one Black juror found for Edmonson but reduced his damages substantially based on comparative fault, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed.