A group of mostly African-American women sued a California wine train company for $11 million for allegedly kicking them off of a train for laughing too loudly.
The 11 women—10 of them black—say employees of the Napa Valley Wine Train had them removed for getting too loud while celebrating the birthday of one of their book club members. The women say they were targeted by employees because of their race. The hashtag #LaughingWhileBlack took off on social media after the incident.
According to a press release published by their attorney, the women were humiliated when they were “were marched through the six cars comprising the entire train and turned over to police who detained the women in the hot sun.” The women filed an $11 million lawsuit for racial discrimination, defamation and breach of contract.
The Napa Valley Wine Train has already apologized for the incident, but the women involved say that is not enough. The company says it is opening its own investigation into the incident and will respond appropriately to the lawsuit once that is complete, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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