A jury in Napa Valley cleared the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group of wrongdoing in a pregnancy discrimination trial that ended Wednesday.
The verdict exonerates the famous chef and his acclaimed restaurants — Per Se in New York and the French Laundry in California — of charges of fraud and discrimination alleged by former employee Vannessa Scott-Allen.
"We are and always have been supportive of women and their families," the French Laundry said in a statement. "We are disappointed to see lawyers seeking an exorbitant sum for erroneous claims, and believe that these types of frivolous cases do a disservice to the very cause they are meant to further."
Scott-Allen, 28, worked at Per Se for five years and rose to the highest server position of captain before requesting a transfer to the Napa Valley restaurant. According to her lawsuit, Scott-Allen said the transfer was approved and she moved to California where she was told they couldn't offer her the job. In the interim, she had told her bosses she was pregnant.
During a three-week trial, Scott-Allen's attorneys presented internal emails and other documents they said showed managers learned about Scott-Allen's pregnancy and then devised an elaborate scheme to get rid of her that included tricking her into resigning from Per Se while leading her to believe she had a job waiting at the French Laundry.
Scott-Allen was seeking more than $1 million in damages. Keller was named as an individual defendant because he owns and controls the two restaurants.
Carla Minnard, an attorney for Scott-Allen, said they planned to appeal.
"We do disagree with their verdict and believe that it was against the evidence," Minnard said.
Defense attorneys offered a different account, saying Scott-Allen didn't get the job for performance reasons. During the trial, lawyers representing the Keller group said that French Laundry manager Michael Minnillo, who was also named in the lawsuit, had worked with Scott-Allen at Per Se and didn't think highly of her, and that he never extended a formal job offer to her.
Defense attorney Mike Laurenson said there was no conspiracy, just a misunderstanding, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"Mr. Minnillo simply didn't care for Ms. Scott-Allen and should have done a better job of communicating," Laurenson said in closing arguments Tuesday.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.
The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.
Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.
A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
