Opinion
No. 01 C 9381
September 16, 2003
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff alleges that he was discriminated against because of his race, Caucasian, by defendant's failure to consider him for its DD Program, Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment on June 13, 2003. Plaintiff sought and obtained various extensions of time to respond, the last to September 3, 2003. No response has been filed. Pursuant to Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B), defendant's statement of material facts is deemed admitted.
A review of those material facts probably explains why no response was filed. Plaintiff never filed a DD Program application. Even if he had filed such an application, the likelihood of its acceptance was nil. His financial situation was not even remotely robust enough to qualify and his brief experience as a general manager had not been a success. The dealership sustained losses, the losses were increasing, and customer satisfaction evaluations were below average.
Plaintiff's only real evidence of any racial aspect to the case is his testimony that a Ford employee denigrated his likelihood of being accepted in the DD Program by saying plaintiff could not go through the program because he was not African-American (the employee denies making the remark). But the employee was a lower-level employee who did not have any decision-making responsibilities for the DD Program. Further, although the DD Program may very well be a means for encouraging minority participation by making funding available to persons with limited capital, it is not confined to minority applicants, and Caucasians who meet the requirements do participate.
Defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted.