Ferrill v. Parker Group, Inc.

The Parker Group (TPG) (defendant) ran get-out-the-vote phone campaigns, race-matching about 10% of its calls so that Black callers used a Black-oriented script for Black voters and white callers used a different script for white voters. TPG hired Ferrill (plaintiff), who is Black, to call Black voters, then laid her off in a post-election reduction in force. Ferrill sued under Section 1981 for both her termination and her race-based job assignment. The district court granted TPG summary judgment on the termination claim (a legitimate reduction in force) but ruled for Ferrill on the job-assignment claim, despite finding TPG had no racial animus in making the race-matched assignments; the jury awarded Ferrill $500 in compensatory and $4,000 in punitive damages.