Your civil rights may have been violated if you were denied service or fair treatment in a public place.

You may wonder what legal remedies you have if the wait staff in a restaurant refused to serve you and the only reason you could detect was your race or special clothing that identified you by your religious affiliation. You may have felt your dignity affronted when theater personnel refused to accommodate your disability appropriately when you were trying to see a movie or play, and requested special seating. You may have had an ugly and damaging experience after a police officer apparently used racial profiling to decide to conduct illegal search and seizure of your person, vehicle or place of residence.

Whatever the circumstances, you may have been a target of illegal treatment when one of these things happened or when an owner, manager or official in a “place of public accommodation” blatantly discriminated against you, in violation of laws such as one or more of the following:

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
• California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act
• California’s Disabled Persons Act

You may have been a victim of a hate crime in a public place when someone called you by a racial slur and assaulted you. You know it was not just a simple assault, and was a form of discrimination; how can you find justice now?

It is one thing to know your rights — very important, in fact. It is another thing — also important, when possible — to take legal action to address a violation of your rights. A skilled civil rights attorney can help determine whether the facts of your case warrant a civil claim or lawsuit. A knowledgeable lawyer can also inform you of how to report illegal discrimination to appropriate government agencies.

You may want to call out and correct the wrongdoing as a first priority. At the same time, if you suffered tangible harm such as physical injury or loss of an opportunity you should have had, you may want more than an apology. You may believe you should be compensated monetarily for the wrongdoing. If this is what it would take to right the wrong, a court of law may agree with you.

KRA Legal PC is a source of information,help and hope for people in the greater Los Angeles area who have experienced illegal discrimination in public places. Explore your legal options. Schedule a no-obligation consultation with attorney Kenechi R. Agu by email or by phone at 310-431-9875. He will bring a clear-minded analytical approach to the task of helping you determine how to right the wrong after you were discriminated in a public place.