West Group is target of $20 million discrimination suit
Deborah Caulfield Rybak
Star Tribune
Published Jan. 25, 2003

A $20 million discrimination suit against Eagan-based West Group was filed Friday by a lawyer who says he was passed over for promotion in the legal publisher's sales management group because he is black.

Kevin Lynch, a 39-year-old law account manager in West's Washington, D.C., office, contends that a promotion he wanted went instead to a "less qualified white male," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also claims that upper management in West's sales division is entirely white.

Last summer, Lynch was one of three finalists for the job of regional manager of the Washington office. The job went to an applicant from West's Florida office.

A West spokesman said the Eagan-based company does not comment on lawsuits. He also declined to comment on whether West had black employees in upper management. West is a subsidiary of Canadian-based Thomson Corp. and is a major supplier of legal, regulatory and compliance information to the legal market.

Lynch, according to his lawsuit, had better educational and professional credentials for the position than the man who got the job. Lynch attended Princeton University and Georgetown law school, had worked longer for West, had excellent contacts in the Washington area and been named a top performer in his region in 2000, 2001 and 2002, the lawsuit says.

Lynch said he had received more than $20,000 in bonuses from West as a top performer. In 2002, Lynch said he received a five percent salary increase when the office average that year was three percent.

"The white male was hired approximately six months ago, has not yet moved to Washington, D.C., and has been allowed to work from his home in Florida," the suit says.

Lynch adds in the suit that he was told his Florida colleague got the job because he'd "filled in for someone who took a temporary leave of absence in Florida and that experience gave him the advantage" over Lynch.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeks $20 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Lynch is being represented by Jim Bell, the same attorney who filed suit against Minneapolis-based Dorsey & Whitney earlier this month. The Dorsey suit accuses the law firm of discriminating against a black female attorney in its Washington office.