Supreme Court, In Unanimous Decision, Says Byron Allen Must Meet Higher Threshold To Continue Racial Bias Case Against Comcast

By Ted Johnson  March 23, 2020 7:08am

UPDATED, with comment from Byron Allen: The Supreme Court sided with Comcast over Byron Allen in his racial discrimination case against the cable giant, ruling that in order for his lawsuit to survive, he bears the burden of showing racial discrimination was the “but for” cause in the cable giant’s refusal to carry his entertainment channels.


The justices, in a unanimous decision, ruled that to prevail, “a plaintiff must initially plead and ultimately prove that, but for race, it would not have suffered the loss of a legally protected right,” according to the opinion. (Read it here).

The decision means that Allen’s lawsuit will go back to the lower court, where he can again try to prove his case, but he will have a much greater threshold to meet for his case to survive.

At issue was whether Allen’s $20 billion lawsuit should have survived beyond the pleading stage by merely proving that, in Comcast’s decision to deny carriage of his Entertainment Studios’ channels, his race was a “motivating factor” or whether it was the sole cause, also known as “but for” in legalese. The ruling was viewed as having a potentially significant impact on future racial discrimination cases. Read more here