Down by law: Will the real attorneys in the Seven-up lawsuit please stand up?

By David Hare

The new attorneys in the Seven-up/RC Bottling Company of Southern California discrimination lawsuit say the case isn't about them, but rather their clients -- a group of African-American males who claim they were subjected to racism during the time they worked for the company at a Las Vegas warehouse.

The other attorneys in the case -- David Kimball and Ron Serota -- say the same: It's about them, not us.

And that's about where the two parties begin and end their agreement.

Matthew Callister, attorney and former Las Vegas City Councilman, says his firm -- Callister and Reynolds -- is representing at least seven of the nine plaintiffs in the Seven-up case. He says he was contacted by the plaintiffs after they became unhappy with their previous attorneys.

Kimball and Serota, on the other hand, maintain that they are still part of the lawsuit and, furthermore, have yet to receive any kind of official notice from the plaintiffs indicating the attorneys have been fired.

Kimball declined to comment for this article. However, Serota released a statement to CityLife. It reads in part: "We still have not received confirmation from any of the plaintiffs that we were terminated pursuant to our law firm engagement agreement. As a matter of fact, [the plaintiffs] confirmed today [Nov. 30] that they had never communicated to us that they were terminating our engagement."

Serota, however, acknowledges that the clients told the firm they had signed "some type of agreement" with Callister.

"Yet Callister," Serota's statement continues, "has declined to provide us with a copy of such agreement."

Callister, meanwhile, says he is preparing his case against Seven-up, despite the fact that Kimball and Serota have already filed a lawsuit in federal district court on behalf of the plaintiffs.

If that's not complicated enough, Callister accused Kimball and Serota of filing their lawsuit while having knowledge of his retainer.

But this shouldn't be about the lawyers, Callister said. "It's about the indignities these gentlemen suffered at the hands of their employer.

"It's tragic that something like this can happen in my hometown," he added.

The case against Seven-up is based on the findings of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation, which concluded that the bottling company engaged in discriminatory employment practices made unlawful by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Callister says he's confident that a jury will decide in favor of his clients should the case go to trial.

"The best way to change corporate behavior is to do so in a public venue," he said. "These were good jobs my clients had and they were forced out of them on account of their race."

Tune in next week for further developments.

David Hare is CityLife's senior staff writer. He can be reached at 702-871-6780 ext. 396 or dhare@lvpress.com.