John McDonald, the Las Vegas-based owner and operator of the now defunct JWM Investments Inc., filed a discrimination lawsuit in U.S. District Court in March 2002 against Domino's Pizza as an individual. He alleges the pizza giant sabotaged four contracts to build pizza shops in the Las Vegas Valley because he is black. He said Domino's Pizza's actions led to his company's bankruptcy and damage to his personal credit.

"Basically I am the business," McDonald said. "I had a lot of my personal assets pledged on these loans that I personally guaranteed."

The case was dismissed by the U.S. District Court and appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of McDonald. Domino's Pizza then appealed the case to the high court, which will hear oral arguments in the case on Dec. 6.

McDonald is suing under a Reconstruction era law, United States Code Title 42, Section 1981, that allows minorities to have the same rights in business contracts as white citizens, among other things. Domino's Pizza leaders say McDonald has no right to sue as an individual because it had the contracts with the company not him.

One of McDonald's lawyers, Matthew Callister of Las Vegas, said the political wrangling in Congress over Supreme Court judicial nominee Samuel Alito could have an impact on this case. Callister said a negative result could reverse years of civil rights case law.

"Clearly this Supreme Court has not been generous with issues of minority rights, and the 9th Circuit is not beloved of the Supreme Court," Callister said. "We hope Sandra Day O'Connor will still be there."

However, Callister, a former Las Vegas city councilman, expressed optimism that the Supreme Court would give the case a fair hearing.

"It's important to note that the court doesn't have to (allow) oral arguments," he said. "The reason they did it, we believe, is the Supreme Court recognizes the importance of this issue."

McDonald said two of four Domino's Pizza shops had been built, but when it came time to begin building another on Bonanza Road, he encountered zoning problems and representatives of Domino's Pizza became upset. He said eventually he had to sell the other two up-and-running shops because Domino's Pizza stopped paying rent on those two leases.

McDonald alleges that a Domino's Pizza real estate negotiator, Deborah Pear Phillips, called the Las Vegas Valley Water District and removed him as the landowner. He said that forced him to go to the Water District to prove his ownership of the land.

He said Phillips tried to get him to agree to changing the contracts from 10- year leases to 30-day leases, which he declined to agree to. He said relations with Domino's Pizza further declined when in a phone conversation with McDonald, Phillips said, "I don't like dealing with you people anyway."

He said Phillips then refused to explain what she meant by that comment, and told him, "he didn't have a chance in hell," of winning a lawsuit against the company.

In its motion to dismiss the case, Domino's Pizza said it "disputes the accuracy of these allegations," regarding Phillips' alleged comments. The company argues that McDonald failed to finish the projects on time.

"Domino's Pizza ended its relationship with Mr. McDonald's company in 2002 because the work wasn't being completed on time," Tim McIntyre, a Domino's Pizza spokesman, said in a voice mail message. "Our contention is that we never had a contract with an individual. We had a contract with a company, and the dispute between the two companies was resolved."

McDonald had previously sued Domino's Pizza through his company's name, but that case was resolved in JWM's bankruptcy case.

Allen Lichtenstein, another of McDonald's lawyers, said Domino's Pizza's arguments are in themselves discriminatory.

"I think the answer is very clearly that Mr. McDonald does have standing," Lichtenstein said. "Section 1981 was specifically designed to prevent this type of situation where there is discrimination in contracts against black people. Domino's Pizza has taken the position that Mr. McDonald could choose between protections from the corporate form or protection against discrimination. That's clearly contrary to the purposes of the anti-discrimination law and is discriminatory in and of itself."

Callister said McDonald's legal team hopes to prove Domino's Pizza discriminated against him by proving the company has a pattern of racial discrimination. He said he is basing those claims on previous racial discrimination lawsuits filed against the company.

McDonald is now managing partner of Los Angeles-based development firm Imperial Partners LLC and is an investor in a planned North Las Vegas hospital. He said his case doesn't just impact minority business leaders.

"(It's) big Corporate America taking advantage of the little man," McDonald said. "It is truly a David and Goliath story. There are a lot of people who told me not to take this on, but the one thing my mother always told me is, 'If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything.' I decided I was not going to take this from Domino's. I don't feel they could do anything more to me than what they've already done."

Alana Roberts covers courts and labor relations for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.