North Carolina Court Reverses Car Dealer Age Bias Ruling

A former North Carolina car dealership manager will get another chance to prove he was fired because of his age.

The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a Wake County court’s order that dismissed Arnold Floyd Johnson’s wrongful termination lawsuit against Crossroads Ford.

Johnson was promoted in his late 50s to dealer general manager in 2007. He alleges the dealer’s vice president often called him “old man” and mentioned his age in a derogatory way. Johnson was replaced by someone 25 years his junior in 2009 and later was fired in a dispute over selling his wife’s car at the dealership.

The appeals court said there’s sufficient evidence – some in an affidavit from the man who replaced Johnson as sales manager – to question why Johnson was fired.