Woman wins $1.2 million in harassment suit against former owner of Long Leaf Lodge

Tim Lockette, The Anniston Star, Ala.
·3 min read

Jul. 1—A jury awarded $1.2 million to a Calhoun County woman Wednesday in a federal lawsuit over racial discrimination and sexual harrasment by the former owner of Long Leaf Lodge, a hotel in the McClellan area of Anniston.

Laura Ann Williams, a former Long Leaf Lodge employee, sued the hotel and then-owner Jim Coxwell in 2016, alleging Coxwell made a number of racial and sexual comments to her, then fired her after she complained about the behavior.

"The message is to treat your employees right, and don't terminate them as a form of retaliation," said Jason Odom, the lawyer who represented Williams in the case.

Coxwell, a Georgia resident and former member of Jacksonville State University's board of trustees, bought a former military lodge after the closing of Fort McClellan and reopened it as Long Leaf Lodge — McClellan's first civilian hotel — in 2003. He owned the hotel through his company Socoper Inc., which is also named in the suit.

According to court documents, Williams came to work for the lodge in 2014 as a housekeeper for $8.50 per hour. In the lawsuit, Williams alleges Coxwell made numerous racial and sexual comments, including referring to Black employees as "thieving" and telling Williams she needed to "appear white by wearing her hair blonde." Williams is Black.

Willliams also alleges that Coxwell told her he wanted to tie her down and have sex with her and frequently made comments and inquiries about her sex life. In the suit, Williams says she was fired because she refused Coxwell's sexual advances.

Last year, according to court documents, Coxwell's lawyers raised concerns that Coxwell wouldn't be competent to testify in a trial, arguing that Coxwell had early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Judge Karon Bowdre ruled at that point that Coxwell couldn't be proven to be competent. The judge also blocked use in court of a deposition Coxwell gave in 2017, writing that Coxwell's attorneys couldn't prove his competence at the time of that deposition.

Williams filed her original suit along with another plaintiff, former Long Leaf Lodge bookkeeper Polly Diane Trantham. Trantham, who is white, alleged that Coxwell harassed her, exposed his genitals to her and fired her in retaliation after she complained about racial slurs Coxwell allegedly said.

The case stalled in court in 2018 after Trantham was indicted on a theft charge. Court records show Trantham was accused of stealing $2,500 from the hotel. That case has yet to go to trial, postponed in part by COVID-19.

Odom said the charge is based on testimony from the same deposition of Coxwell that the judge later blocked.

The judge agreed to split the Williams and Trantham harassment suits into two separate cases, Odom said, and Trantham's case is still pending. Odom is Trantham's lawyer in her ongoing suit.

Williams now works at Anniston Army Depot, Odom said. In a press release from Odom's office, Williams is quoted as saying she's thankful to the jury for the verdict.

"I just told the jury the truth about what happened to me and asked them to be fair to me with their verdict," she was quoted as saying.

Coxwell's lawyers made only brief comments on the case Thursday, citing their intent to bring the case back to court.

"The decision will be appealed and we expect it to be reversed," said Taylor Stewart, one of Coxwell's lawyers in the case.

Capitol & statewide reporter Tim Lockette: 256-294-4193. On Twitter @TLockette_Star.

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