Case: EEOC v. AutoNation d/b/a Mullinax Ford North Canton n/k/a Mullinax Ford North Canton, Inc.

5:06-cv-01972 | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Filed Date: Aug. 17, 2006

Closed Date: April 21, 2013

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Case Summary

The Philadelphia district office of the EEOC brought this suit against Mullinax Ford North Canton, Inc. (previously known as AutoNation Corporation), an Ohio car dealership, in August 2006, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The complaint alleged that managers at the dealership harassed a black complainant due to his race, creating a hostile work environment, and retaliated against him after he complained by creating intolerable employment conditions that led to his constructive discharge, all in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complainant, a black male, was granted leave to intervene in December 2006. The parties were subsequently in mediation from January 2007 to June 2007. Discovery occurred and a joint motion for a protective order was granted in September 2007. The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment in October 2007, which was denied in February of 2008. Afterwards, the parties settled by entry of a consent decree in April 2008.The consent decree, which has a five year duration, included non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses, required the expungement of the complainant's record and a guarantee that Mullinax would not reveal anything to future employers about the complaint or the suit, and required Mullinax to develop an anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation policy that would include a process for filing complaints. Additionally, Mullinax was required to post a notice regarding this suit and to distribute its policy to all employees. Managers and supervisors are to be given instructions to prevent discrimination in their areas of work, and all employees are to be given anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation training. If the EEOC suspects non-compliance, it is to inform Mullinax, which then has twenty days to either demonstrate its compliance or remedy the breach, after which the EEOC may go to the Court for relief. Mullinax is required to report on complaints, maintain records of them, and report its compliance with these requirements, and the EEOC is allowed to access Mullinax' records and interview its employees in order to verify this compliance. In addition, Mullinax also agreed to pay a total of $150,000.00 to settle the claims of two individuals and for one complainant's attorneys' fees. The docket sheet doesn't show any further enforcement took place; the case was presumably closed in 2013.

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Summary Authors

Shankar Viswanathan (5/28/2008)

Clearinghouse (6/11/2017)

People

For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5654191/parties/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-mullinax-ford-north-canton-inc/

Judge(s)

Adams, John R. (Ohio)

Judge(s)

Adams, John R. (Ohio)

Attorney Contact Information via CourtListener

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Documents in the Clearinghouse

	Document
5:06-cv-01972	Docket (PACER)	April 21, 2008	April 21, 2008 Docket
1 5:06-cv-01972	Complaint EEOC v. AutoNation d/b/a Mullinax Ford North Canton	Aug. 17, 2006	Aug. 17, 2006 Complaint
39 5:06-cv-01972	First Amended Complaint EEOC v. AutoNation d/b/a Mullinax Ford North Canton	April 13, 2007	April 13, 2007 Complaint
57 5:06-cv-01972	Joint Stipulated Protective Order EEOC v. AutoNation d/b/a Mullinax Ford North Canton	Sept. 20, 2007	Sept. 20, 2007 Order/Opinion
84 5:06-cv-01972	Order [re: Summary Judgment] EEOC v. AutoNation d/b/a Mullinax Ford North Canton	Feb. 4, 2008	Feb. 4, 2008 Order/Opinion
5:06-cv-01972	Consent Decree EEOC v. AutoNation d/b/a Mullinax Ford North Canton	April 21, 2008	April 21, 2008 Settlement Agreement

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Resources

Title	Description		External URL Date / External URL
Black Farmers FAQ: The history of discrimination against Black farmers and policy initiatives to remedy these inequities. Legal Defense Fund	Black farmers have long faced systemic discrimination by public and private institutions and barriers to economic mobility. Inequities in the administration of government farm programs and discrimina…		https://www.naacpldf.org/...
Under the Radar: Visibility and the Effects of Discrimination Lawsuits in Small and Large Firms Carly Knight, Frank Dobbin, Alexandra Kalev	Research on how discrimination lawsuits affect corporate diversity has yielded mixed results. Qualitative studies highlight the limited efficacy of lawsuits in the typical workplace, finding that lit…	March 2022	April 1, 2022 https://cris.tau.ac.il/...

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Docket

See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5654191/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-mullinax-ford-north-canton-inc/

Last updated Aug. 18, 2025, 12:27 a.m.

ECF Number	Description	Date	Link Date / Link
20	Order granting Intervenor's motion to intervene as a party (Related Doc # 2 ) and granting defendant AutoNation's motion to compel arbitration of claims (Related Doc # 7 ). Signed by Judge John R. Adams on 12/27/06.(K, Chr) Modified text on 12/28/2006 (K, Chr).	Dec. 27, 2006	Dec. 27, 2006 RECAP