DISCRIMINATION CASE AGAINST STUDIO ALLOWED DIRECTOR ALLEGES RACIAL FIRING.

Byline: Daily News

The first racial discrimination case brought by the government against a movie studio can proceed to trial, a federal judge ruled.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Universal Pictures in 2003, charging that a first assistant director on the film "2 Fast 2 Furious" was fired because he was black.

The studio has denied the allegation and asked the court to dismiss the case.

But late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess ruled that the commission's lawsuit contained sufficient evidence to allow a jury to decide the case.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Frank Davis, 47, who worked on the film under director John Singleton, who is also black. The lawsuit claims Davis was fired without cause even after Singleton objected.

"Singleton adamantly asserts that Davis was performing satisfactorily and that Singleton would have terminated Davis had he not performed," Feess wrote in his decision.

"These facts, among many others, raise a genuine issue for trial regarding the true motive for Davis' termination and could support an inference that he was terminated because of race," the judge wrote.

Universal did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The trial is set to begin June 27.

The commission had been looking for an opportunity to investigate hiring practices in the entertainment industry, said Anna Park, lead attorney for the Los Angeles office of the EEOC.

"We would hear complaints all the time. But it has taken until now for someone to finally come forward. People were too afraid," she said.

Davis had been working as an assistant director since 1992 and was hired by Singleton to work on "2 Fast 2 Furious," the commission complaint said.

Singleton, who had worked with Davis on a previous film, said in the complaint that he thought Davis was "discharged because of his race."

Universal said Davis could not handle his duties on a complicated, big-budget film that contained many action sequences and stunts.

The commission is asking for damages of as much as $8 million, including back pay and punitive damages. The commission also wants federal monitoring of the studio's hiring practices.