McMillan v. City of New York

James McMillan (plaintiff), a black man, was seriously injured and left quadriplegic when a ferryboat operated by the City of New York (defendant) crashed due to the City's negligence. McMillan sued for negligence, seeking damages for pain, suffering, and medical costs. Because his life expectancy was central to calculating those damages, the City introduced race-based statistics showing that a black person with a similar spinal-cord injury would, on average, live a shorter life than a person of another race with the same injury. The question presented was whether a court could rely on that racial classification to shrink McMillan's damages award.