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Free Speech

Racial Slurs as Actionable Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Eugene Volokh | 5.21.2026 8:01 AM

From Allen v. Noble, decided last week by Judge Latonia Williams (Conn. Super. Ct. New Haven), plaintiff's factual allegations (for Noble's side of the story, as to the now-dropped criminal charges against her apparently based on the same incident, see this N.Y. Post op-ed—she denies that she used slurs, and claims that surveillance video footage shows "[n]o confrontation, not even any interaction, with the accuser"):

[P]laintiff alleges the following facts. The plaintiff is an American citizen of African descent, who, during the times alleged in the complaint, was employed as a parking lot attendant for Pro-Park Mobility. The defendant Noble, during the times alleged in the complaint, was the executive director, employee, and agent for service of process of the defendant Buckley Institute. On or about a date prior to July 6, 2023, one or both of the defendants entered into an agreement with the plaintiff's employer to rent parking spaces for one or more of Buckley Institute's employees, including Noble, in the parking lot where the plaintiff works as an attendant (parking lot).

The complaint alleges that on or about July 6, 2023, while the plaintiff was at the parking lot, he informed Noble that the lot was full and he could not provide for her parking needs. The complaint alleges that the plaintiff overheard Noble state, "fucking niggers," and that the plaintiff did not respond to her.

The complaint further alleges that on July 13, 2023, while the plaintiff was on duty within the parking lot, Noble told him she could not find a parking place in the parking lot and the plaintiff said the parking lot was full and could not accommodate her. The complaint alleges that Noble replied: "You's niggers get jobs and don't know how to act!," and that the plaintiff did not respond to her.

The complaint further alleges that on or about July 27, 2023, the plaintiff observed Noble arrive at the parking lot and found that, due to the lot being full, there was no space within the parking lot to park her car. The complaint alleges that at that time, in the presence of, and within the earshot of two individuals and the plaintiff, Noble orally referred to the plaintiff as a "nigger" three times over a parking lot issue.

The complaint states that "[t]he plaintiff, by dint of … Noble's racially odious, racially demeaning, cruel, abhorrent, and racist epithets towards … [the plaintiff] had the capacity to hold him up to public ridicule, public humiliation, and has caused him great annoyance, embarrassment, shame, degradation, and moreover, he has suffered in his reputation and........

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