HOUSTON – A settlement has been reached in lawsuit involving a racial slur found printed on photos taken during a 2012 wedding reception. A Houston area couple filed the lawsuit in 2014 against Premier Photography and its owner, James Evans.
Documents filed in the lawsuit read the couple rented a booth from Premiere and paid for an attendant. The couple, who are African-American, claim at some point during the reception some guests received photos from the booth with the words, "Poor (n-Word) Party," printed on the bottom.
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Attorney Cathy Hale said the bride's sister received one of those photos but chose not to tell the couple for fear of ruining their wedding day. Hale said the couple learned of the photos several months later.
Hale said the couple filed the lawsuit after contacting Evans and receiving what she characterized as a non-apologetic response. Court records read at one point Evans did offer to refund the couple the $450 cost of the photo booth rental, but they declined.
A settlement in the suit was reached Thursday and both sides released written statements.
"We regret this issue escalated into litigation as a result of poor communication between the parties at the time the caption was discovered," wrote Hale. "My clients accept Mr. Evans' and Premier Photography's statement that he and Premier Photography reject the inappropriate caption printed on the strips and what they represent."
In her statement Hale pointed out that Evans was not present at the wedding reception and was not the operator of the photo booth.
In a separate statement Evans wrote, "I am deeply troubled that the racially inappropriate caption was generated at an event where Premiere Photography was present."
"I immediately conducted an investigation, which included reaching out to the attendants and contacting the venue, but I was unable to find or recover any evidence that Premiere Photography generated this offensive caption. All of my attendants strongly denied any involvement," wrote Evans. "Neither I nor Premiere Photography have ever condoned such language, and we strongly denounce its use on any occasion."
Details of the settlement were not disclosed.