Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co

In Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 252 F.Supp. 140 (S.D.N.Y.1966), aff'd, 409 F.2d 121 (2d Cir.1968) a white teacher sued for the refusal of the defendant Kress to serve her lunch in its restaurant while she was in the company of six of her black students, and for her subsequent arrest by the Hattiesburg Police Department on a vagrancy charge. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant and the police had conspired to deprive her of her constitutional rights. The district court entered summary judgment for the defendant on the conspiracy count and the Court affirmed. In reversing, the Supreme Court noted that the plaintiff would be entitled to relief "if she can prove that a Kress employee, in the course of employment and a Hattiesburg policeman somehow reached an understanding to deny Miss Adickes service" in the restaurant or to cause her subsequent arrest. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., supra, 398 U.S. at 152, 90 S.Ct. at 1605.