Notable Lawsuits
Yvonne Selby v. CVS Health Corporation et. al
On November 5, 2019, The Chinwah Firm LLC filed a consumer discrimination lawsuit in Maryland federal district court against CVS Health Corporation and three of its subsidiaries. (Click here to read the Complaint.)
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Yvonne Selby, a Black woman who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. On June 14, 2019, she was prevented from buying medicine at a local CVS Pharmacy by a white CVS employee who claimed that a certain CVS policy required rejecting her cash payment. CVS upper management then made clear that no such policy existed at the time. Yet the employee still rejected Selby’s cash payment. To make matters worse, immediately after Selby told the employee that she believed the employee was racially profiling her, the employee made several Baltimore Police Department officers eject Selby from the store.
The lawsuit alleges that CVS Health racially profiled Selby and then made false statements to hide the racial motivation behind rejecting her cash payment. It also alleges that CVS Health reacted to Selby’s complaints about racial profiling by making a false police report about her and having her ejected from the store by local police officers.
Selby sues for violations of Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, including race-based discrimination, race-based harassment, and retaliation; violations of Section 1982 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, including race-based discrimination, race-based harassment, and retaliation; and unfair and deceptive trade practices under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act.
Selby seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as an injunction to stop CVS Health and its subsidiaries from discriminating against any shopper on account of race.