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American Airlines has settled a race discrimination lawsuit filed in New York federal court that alleged eight Black men were ejected from a flight after a white flight attendant complained of an unknown passenger's body odor, attorneys for three of the men announced on Thursday.

The settlement terms are confidential, but attorneys for Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal said it includes American Airlines' commitment to prevent discrimination in the future.

"Corporations have a pressing responsibility to ensure that customers are not mistreated on account of race," Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group, said in a statement. "We appreciate that American Airlines treated this incident with the seriousness it deserves and agreed to correct course."

Court filings show that American Airlines and the men reached an agreement in principle in October. On Friday, they filed a stipulation to toss the case with prejudice.

Jackson, Joseph, and Veal sued American Airlines in late May, alleging that they and five other Black men were each asked to deboard a New York City-bound plane before takeoff in January, "based solely on their race."

According to their complaint, the men, all New York residents, had been traveling to NYC from Southern California when an American Airlines representative approached each of them during a layover in Phoenix, Arizona, and ordered each of them off the plane without any explanation.

According to their complaint, none of the three men knew each other. Jackson, a professional musician and music teacher, had been in California to tour with his band, the complaint stated. Joseph, a professional actor, went to Los Angeles to spend the holidays with friends, while Veal, a production assistant, was helping a friend move to the city.

Yet the airline representative ordered them and five other Black men off the plane, they alleged.

The men said they demanded an explanation, to which American Airlines representatives allegedly told them that they were ordered off the plane because someone complained about an offensive body odor. The men alleged that when they later arrived at the gate, a different airline representative told them that a white male flight attendant had made the complaint.

The men described the event as "traumatizing" as well as "scary, extremely frustrating, embarrassing, degrading, and humiliating."

Their attorneys said Thursday that American Airlines has since fired the flight attendants responsible for the men's removal.

Susan Huhta of Outten & Golden, another one of the men's attorneys, said that American Airlines' "commitment to take concrete actions to address discrimination is a significant departure from the way public companies have historically dealt with individual race discrimination claims."

"We are pleased to have reached a resolution that will allow these brave men to move forward with their heads held high," Huhta said.

In a joint statement, Jackson, Joseph, and Veal said that they are "very pleased" the airline took their complaint seriously and "hope that this never happens to Black passengers or any other people of color again."

American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday night.

The men are represented by Michael Kirkpatrick and Lauren E. Bateman of Public Citizen Litigation Group and Susan Huhta, Lindsay Goldbrum, and Kendall Onyendu of Outten & Golden LLP.

American Airlines is represented by Mark W. Robertson, Tristan Morales, and Anwar Graves of O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

The case is Alvin Jackson et al. v. American Airlines Inc., case number 1:24-cv-03818, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.