driver, Marco Martinez, "Hey, f**ing Mexican, you know why you have to go to
Portland and I don't? Because f**ing Mexicans are good at crossing borders."
Currier was upset and reported Howell's comment to Judith McQuade, NSI
quality assurance manager. He did not report it to dispatch because he believed
dispatch was involved. McQuade immediately reported the incident to dispatcher
Sleeth and reported it to dispatcher Patrick Franssen the next day.
On August 14, 2008, Sleeth and Franssen met with Larry Graham, NSI
terminal operations manager, for guidance on how to terminate Currier's
contract. Graham told Sleeth and Franssen that because Currier was a
contractor and not an employee, they "could just terminate the contract if he was
not performing," and recommended they do so. Sleeth and Franssen did not tell
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Graham about the August 12 incident or Currier's complaint, which Graham only
learned of "much later."3
On August 14, 2008, Sleeth and Franssen called Currier into a meeting
room and told him they would no longer be using his services—that "the reasons
were for his customer service issues that we had with him. Us—customer being
Northland Services, Patrick and I."4 They also told him that they had talked with
McQuade and the drivers and that "they had decided that the joke was funny."
After the termination of his contract, Currier left his truck in NSI's freight
yard. When Sleeth walked by Currier's truck, he noticed several bald tires and
expired license tags. He took photos of the truck.
In 2009, Currier filed a complaint with the Seattle Office of Civil Rights,
which conducted an investigation. In 2011, Currier commenced suit against NSI