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Norman Mineta Confirmed as Commerce Secretary (in National News) Quiet Storm Says Goodbye to the Cannery (in Bay Area News) Get Wireless or Get Out: Wireless E-commerce and APIs (in Business) Lead Editorial: S.F.'s District Elections (in Opinion) Denny’s Discrimination Lawsuit Dismissed By William Kates/AP A federal judge dismissed a race discrimination lawsuit brought by nine Chinese and African Americans who claimed they were thrown out of a Denny’s restaurant and beaten by white customers while security guards watched. U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin said the former students failed to show they were denied seating or security services in dismissing the 1997 lawsuit. Last November, the U.S. Justice Department rejected the group’s appeal to bring federal charges against the restaurant and those involved after determining there was no evidence to support their allegations. “We still feel that there are facts in dispute here and that this case should go to the jury,” said Ken Kimerling, a spokesman for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented the students. “We are probably going to appeal. We have to talk it over with everyone, but that’s our inclination,” he said on Monday. Although Scullin filed his decision July 13, lawyers just received notice Monday, he said. If appealed, the case would go the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “We were confident that when all the facts were presented, Denny’s would be vindicated,” said James B. Anderson, Denny’s president and chief executive officer. Denny’s parent company, Advantica Restaurant Group in Spartanburg, S.C., has nearly 1,800 company and franchise restaurants worldwide. “We have worked very hard to create an inclusive organization that embraces diversity in every aspect of our business,” he said. The former students claimed that the group was racially discriminated against at a suburban Syracuse Denny’s on April 11, 1997. The group—seven Chinese Americans and two African Americans—said they were denied service while other customers were seated ahead of them, then were assaulted in the restaurant’s parking lot by a group of white patrons as two security guards watched. The security guards were off-duty deputies so the lawsuit also named Onondaga County as a defendant, contending the county was negligent for not properly training the deputies. Local prosecutors initially investigated the case but refused to file criminal charges. Instead, District Attorney William Fitzpatrick accused the students of being drunk, disorderly and “orchestrating” their claim, knowing full well Denny’s legal history regarding discrimination. In 1994, Denny’s settled a $46 million class-action lawsuit brought by black Secret Service agents and California students who claimed discrimination in separate incidents. As part of the settlement, Denny’s operates under the watch of a federal civil rights monitor from the justice department. However, its problems have continued with recent incidents arising in Maryland, Florida and West Virginia. According to restaurant employees and witnesses, the group became rude and rowdy when they could not be immediately seated together in the busy restaurant, which was teeming with an early morning breakfast crowd heading home from the bars. The group was asked to leave and then started a fight in the parking lot, according to the prosecutor’s report. The students, most of them attending Syracuse University, left before police arrived. They did not seek medical treatment or report the fight until after they had gathered at one of the students’ apartment, the report said. Denny’s Inc. maintained it was not responsible for what happened at the Syracuse restaurant because the restaurants were franchised to an independent company, NDI Foods Inc. Syracuse-based NDI Foods has since entered bankruptcy proceedings and turned its seven upstate New York Denny’s franchises back over to Denny’s parent company. NDI also denied that any discrimination occurred.