Coors Brewing Co. vindicated in racial discrimination case.

A jury in U.S. District Court in Denver last week rejected the claims of a Chicago businessman that his company failed due to racial discrimination by the Coors Brewing Co.

After deliberating for three hours, a jury found that the failure of a business owned by Felix A. Burrows, Jr. was not caused by what Burrows alleged was racial prejudice and discrimination by Coors. Burrows had filed suit under the Civil Rights Act of 1991 claiming that Coors employees had canceled orders placed with one of his businesses, Great American Tool and Manufacturing Company, because he is an African American. The suit also claimed that the canceled orders forced him to close the company in early 1990. During the two-week trial, Coors offered evidence that it had taken measures to help Great American Tool succeed. According to testimony offered in the case, Coors provided the company with an "unprecedented" no-interest $190,000 loan. Coors also reportedly arranged for quick payment of all invoices to help the company avoid cash-flow problems.

Despite claims that Coors had canceled orders for various manufacturing parts produced by the machine shop operation, testimony showed that Coors' payments to Great American Tool increased each year from an average of $5,200 a month in 1986 to a monthly average of $64,000 in 1990, the year Great American Tool shut down.

At the time that Great American Tool closed, the company was holding more than $85,000 in unfilled orders from Coors.

The claims Burrows made in his suit were contradicted by earlier statements he had made about Coors. In a letter to Coors president Pete Coors in November 1989, six months before Great American Tool failed, Burrows referred to Coors as "perhaps the best company in America relative to responding to and strengthening our nation's minority business infrastructure."

John Meadows, community relations director at Coors, said he hopes that the verdict will help dispel any misinformation people have about Coors. Coors is a company that will not tolerate any form of discrimination, either internally or in our relationships with those outside the company," Meadows said, "Our commitment to work in partnership with minority communities is genuine and strong."

According to Meadows, Coors has invested more than $600 million in minority communities in the past 10 years through purchases from minority-owned businesses and outreach efforts.

Meadows added, "The jury has an opportunity to evaluate our record and determined that the charges leveled against us were entirely unfounded. We hope that those who are uncertain about Coors' commitment to civil rights and diversity will accept the decision of an impartial jury and see Coors in a new light."

Meadows reported that Coors has been recognized by many organizations for the company's contributions to minority businesses, employees and causes. Those organizations include the national Urban League, NAACP and Hispanic Women's Council. Coors is a long-time participant in the NAACP's Fair Share program and was included in the 1993 book "The Best Companies for Minorities." Meadows said that the book's author, Lawrence Otis Graham had hoped to list 100 companies among the Fortune 100, but only 85, including Coors, met his standards.