Can I Sue a Bar for Discrimination?

Determining whether something is discrimination can be difficult, especially when you’ve been drinking. No matter the reason for your removal, the bar should handle it as courteously and discreetly as possible.

Even if your removal was lawful, being dragged through the bar and called demeaning names humiliates anyone. If bar staff used racist, sexist, or other discriminatory words, you may want to speak to a civil rights lawyer.

The process for filing a civil rights or personal injury lawsuit is complex. It requires legal knowledge that most people don’t have. A civil rights or personal injury attorney can help explain the legal issues.

Can Bars Discriminate Against Customers?

While private businesses can remove patrons for disruptive behavior, they cannot do so based on prejudice or bias.

Bars are considered public accommodations under federal and state civil rights laws. This means they cannot discriminate against individuals based on protected characteristics like race, religion, or disability. 

When Is Getting Kicked Out of a Bar Considered Discrimination?

Discrimination means they kicked you out because of features like your race, religion, or gender.

That’s not the same as kicking you out because you were loud, drunk, and happened to be of a particular race, religion, or gender. Bars and nightclubs can rightfully remove anyone for being too drunk, even if it seems like the guy next to you is just as drunk. 

Example of Discrimination at a Bar

Let’s use a hypothetical example to help illustrate this:

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and you decide to dress up in green and head to a local Irish pub with some friends to have a couple of drinks. You’re having a good time in a safe environment until the door opens and a group of patrons, all dressed in orange, walks in. They are loud and rambunctious, but not more so than those dressed in green. A bouncer heads over to a particularly loud young patron (let’s say his name is William), takes him by the arm, and shoves him to the door. As he throws him out, the bouncer shouts, “We don’t serve Proddies here on St. Paddy’s Day! Don’t let us see you come in here again!”

You have no idea what a “Proddy” is, so you ask the bartender as he’s refilling your drink. The bartender smirks and tells you that a “Proddy” is a Protestant.

You’re not sure why, but that doesn’t seem right to you. Is it legal for the bouncer to kick William out of the bar, a public accommodation, because he is a Protestant? The answer is no.

Protected Classes Under Federal and State Anti-Discrimination Laws

The federal government and the states have laws that prohibit discrimination in public accommodations, including most bars. Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act create protected classes.

If you are a member of one of the following protected classes, federal law prohibits someone from discriminating against you in a public accommodation because of:

• Religion
• Race
• Color
• National origin

The Americans with Disabilities Act also prohibits discrimination based on real or perceived disability.

Most state laws have expanded this list of protected classes with their own civil rights laws. These laws prohibit discrimination against the following classes:

• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity
• Age

Let’s go back to our example with William. The bouncer assumed William was a Protestant because he wore orange on St. Patrick’s Day. Further, the bouncer used a religious slur against Protestants by calling William a Proddy.

A reasonable person could conclude that the bouncer kicked William out of the bar because of his religion. That would violate state and federal civil rights laws. William could sue the bar.

Can a Bar Ban Solo Drinkers?

Yes, a bar can set a business policy to not serve single customers. Being a solo drinker is not a protected class. It may feel very unfair, but it would generally not be discriminatory. 

There may be an exception in certain situations, such as if the bar applies this policy differently based on customers’ protected classes. For example, a bar might selectively enforce its policy to only kick out solo drinkers who are men while allowing solo women to stay. In that case, there may be reason to pursue a discrimination claim. Yet, you’ll still need to prove the elements of discrimination to win the claim.

Proving Discrimination

William’s challenge is proving intentional discrimination. To do so, he will need to present evidence tending to show that the bouncer kicked him out of the bar because of his religion.

He could do this through direct and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence tends to prove a fact in itself without the need to draw an inference. Circumstantial evidence doesn’t prove a fact unless you draw an inference. Both can be powerful in court.

Direct Evidence

Direct evidence is testimony, a document, or something else that tends to prove a fact without requiring inference. William could call you as a witness and have you testify based on your own personal knowledge about what you heard.

The bouncer’s statement, “We don’t serve Proddies here on St. Paddy’s Day,” suggests that William was evicted from the bar because of his perceived religion. There is no need to draw an inference, as the statement itself is direct evidence of intentional discrimination.

Circumstantial Evidence

William could also use your testimony to establish circumstantial evidence of religious discrimination. Recall that William was wearing orange in an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day. Wearing orange on a day you’re supposed to wear green doesn’t prove anything beyond a peculiar fashion choice. For it to be circumstantial evidence of religious discrimination, William would need to build a connection between wearing orange and the bouncer’s belief that William was a Protestant.

Think of circumstantial evidence as a chain between the evidence and the fact you are trying to prove. You need to establish the links to make the chain. To create the links, William would have to provide evidence of the following:

• He was wearing orange in an Irish bar on St. Patrick’s Day
• Certain Protestants in Northern Ireland would wear orange on St. Patrick’s Day to tweak the Catholics during the Troubles
• The bouncer was a Catholic from Northern Ireland

Your testimony could create some of these links. You could swear that William was wearing orange on St. Patrick’s Day and that Murphy’s is an Irish bar. However, that alone would likely not be enough. William would need additional evidence to establish the other links of the old prejudice, the bouncer’s familiarity with the prejudice, and the bouncer’s nationality. If William could offer this evidence and create these links, you could infer that the bouncer believed William was Protestant because he was wearing orange on St. Patrick’s Day.

What Can You Win in a Bar Discrimination Case?

A successful discrimination claim against a bar could result in:

• Injunctive relief to stop the discriminatory act
• Compensatory damages to cover your losses
• Punitive damages, though rare, to discourage bars from committing future discrimination
• Payment to cover your legal fees

In the example case, William’s civil rights attorney may determine he has a valid discrimination claim against the bar. If so, they can sue the bar for religious discrimination. If they win the case, William may be eligible for certain remedies.

Injunctive Relief

The first thing William’s lawyer might ask for is injunctive relief. An injunction is a court order compelling someone to either do or refrain from doing something. If you violate an injunction, the court can hold you in contempt. That typically results in financial penalties.

William likes the bar and would like to become a regular, despite what the bouncer did. He could ask the court for an injunction compelling the bar to lift its permanent ban on him. If the court issues such an injunction but the bar doesn’t let him return, the judge could hold the bar owner in civil contempt. In theory, the judge could also find the bar owner in criminal contempt and recommend a criminal referral.

Compensatory Damages

William’s lawyer could ask for compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are monies intended to compensate someone for a loss. They are intended to make you whole. Compensatory damages include:

• Lost wages
• Medical bills
• Harm to your reputation
• Out-of-pocket expenses
• Pain and suffering

Let’s say the bouncer hurt William’s shoulder when he threw him out of the bar, causing William to see a doctor and get physical therapy. An award of compensatory damages could include an amount to pay off these bills. William may also be able to recover for, among other things, the emotional distress of being thrown out of the bar and the pain and suffering he sustained from personal injury.

Punitive Damages

William’s lawyer could also seek punitive damages. Punitive damages are not intended to compensate you for a loss. They are intended to punish a wrongdoer for outrageous behavior and to deter others from engaging in similar misconduct. You need to show actual malice or reckless indifference to your civil rights.

In some states, the amount you can recover is capped. In others, there is no limit. The U.S. Constitution can limit punitive damages, particularly when they are grossly excessive relative to compensatory damages. It’s a rare occurrence, coming into play only when the punitive damage award exceeds compensatory damages by an exponential amount.

Punitive damages are hard to get, as you need to show extreme and outrageous conduct. In our example, it might be a good idea for William to seek them. Throwing someone out of a bar because of their religion is quite offensive and could be considered extreme and outrageous. Likewise, it’s unacceptable in our society and is the sort of thing you’d want to deter others from doing. William would have a decent chance of success.

Court Costs and Attorney Fees

William may also be able to recover his court costs and attorney fees. In most circumstances, each party is responsible for paying its own lawyers. However, the Civil Rights Attorney‘s Fees Act of 1976 permits a judge, in their discretion, to order the losing party to pay the prevailing party’s reasonable attorney fees.

If William wins his case, he will be the prevailing party. The bar could be ordered to pay the civil rights attorney William hired, provided the attorney’s fees were reasonable under the circumstances. If the judge believes the lawyer charged too much, they can reduce the fees to what they think is reasonable. Some states do not permit recovery of attorney’s fees in certain civil cases.

When You Can’t Sue for Discrimination

There are some instances that appear to be discrimination but are not. Your claim must fall under a “protected class,” such as race, religion, gender, or national origin. There may be other factors as well. For example, denying an 18-year-old entry to a bar is not age discrimination; it is the law.

For instance, suppose William had been wearing his orange shirt but was also falling-down drunk when he came to the bar. The bouncer would have been completely justified in refusing him entry, because bars may refuse to serve intoxicated patrons.

You may not be able to sue for discrimination if you provoked the encounter. If William put on his orange shirt on St. Patrick’s Day and went to Irish bars looking for a fight, and the bouncer’s attorney found witnesses who could testify to that fact, it could reduce his potential recovery in a lawsuit. While his behavior does not excuse the bouncer, it makes William’s actions seem suspect.

All claims must be filed within the state’s statute of limitations. A statute of limitations is the amount of time you have after an incident to file a legal or civil claim. Depending on the state and type of claim, you may have from one to several years to make your claim, with some states allowing up to seven years.

Some state laws may require you to file a complaint with a state civil rights agency before filing a lawsuit. However, for federal claims under Title II of the Civil Rights Act involving public accommodations, it’s common to file in court. The requirements vary by jurisdiction and type of claim. Before you file any legal action, it is advisable to contact a local attorney to get legal advice on the best way to proceed.

A Civil Rights Lawyer Can Help

The example we used in this article is fairly straightforward. Most civil rights cases will be a little more complicated. For example, the line between a bar’s enforcement of a legitimate dress code and illegal discrimination isn’t always clear. Bars may require certain types of footwear or ban some styles of jewelry for safety reasons. This seems reasonable on the surface, but legal action could reveal these are gender or religious discrimination rules disguised as “safety measures.”

If you think a business like a bar has discriminated against you, consider consulting with an experienced civil rights lawyer. They can give you legal advice about your claim and help you decide whether filing a discrimination case against the bar that kicked you out is worth the time and effort.

If security or other staff injured you, consider consulting with a personal injury lawyer about a potential claim. Your lawyer can also negotiate on your behalf with the bar’s insurance company and handle all legal services.