Posted Apr 15, 2010 7:55 AM CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Motivation is becoming a central issue in a discrimination lawsuit filed against an Atlanta restaurant by a lawyer and a former NBA star, both African-Americans, who were asked to give up their bar seats to two white women.

Former NBA all-star Joe Barry Carroll and Atlanta lawyer Joseph Shaw see discrimination in the request by The Tavern at Phipps, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. They say they had not even finished their food when they were asked to give up their seats, and no white men were asked to move. When they refused, police were called, and an officer escorted them from the restaurant.

But a lawyer for the restaurant, Simon Bloom III, says Carroll and Shaw were asked to move because they are men, not because they are African-American. The request was "focused on hospitality, gentility and good manners,” Bloom told the newspaper. The restaurant says in court documents filed this month that it did nothing wrong, and the suit should be dismissed.

Carroll and Shaw point to pretrial testimony to support their case, the story says. Former restaurant employees said their employer limited the number of black employees, delayed service to black customers, and eliminated Hennessy Cognac and Heineken because it was popular with black customers, according to the Journal-Constitution account.

Chris Pappas, a former operating partner of the Tavern, testified that the restaurant tried to discourage an influx of black customers during the 2003 NBA All Star game by playing country music and hanging banners that said, "Welcome Rodeo Fans."