Prosecuting Majority-Group Discrimination Claims: Statute Selection, Damages, and the Closing Filing Window

P. Stewart Abney, Managing Partner | Abney Law Office, PLLC

P. Stewart Abney is the Managing Partner of Abney Law Office, PLLC in Louisville, Kentucky. He represents employees and individuals in employment and civil rights litigation, including claims of race, gender, age, disability, and religious discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, wage and overtime claims, whistleblower retaliation, police misconduct, and violations of constitutional rights.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Abney earned his Juris Doctor with honors from the University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, and his Bachelor of Arts in History from Centre College. He is admitted in all Kentucky courts, before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and in the United States District Courts for the Western District of Kentucky, the Eastern District of Kentucky, the Southern District of Indiana, and the District of Colorado.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Abney’s trial results include the largest disability discrimination jury verdict in Kentucky, a judgment of $1,275,041.25 in Turner v. Norton Healthcare, Inc. (2018). He also obtained a $1,217,287.00 race discrimination verdict in Mattie L. Cohen v. Jewish Hospital (2008).

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Abney is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, the Louisville Bar Association, the Kentucky Justice Association, the American Association for Justice, and the National Lawyers Guild.

• Experience

Mr. Abney litigates discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and unpaid wage claims on behalf of individual plaintiffs in Kentucky and neighboring federal districts. His recoveries include a judgment of $788,368.86 for unpaid wages in Isham v. Louisville-Metro Government (2020) and $277,666.22 in unpaid overtime in Anderson v. Nature’s Expressions Landscaping (2018), in addition to his seven-figure discrimination verdicts.

SESSION 1 – Statute Selection and Damages Strategy for the Majority-Group Discrimination Plaintiff | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session equips plaintiff-side employment attorneys with a practical framework for selecting the optimal federal and state statute when representing majority-group discrimination plaintiffs after the Supreme Court’s unanimous 2025 decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services. Attorneys will learn how to maximize damages exposure by layering Title VII, Section 1981, Section 1983, and state law claims—and how to avoid the procedural and pleading errors that cap recovery or forfeit claims entirely. By the end of the session, attendees will understand the post-Ames pleading standard, the statute-selection matrix by claim type, and the strategic filing decisions that determine whether a client’s recovery is capped at $300,000 or unlimited.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Timing, Traps, and the Uncapped Forums: The Filing Window, State-Law Analogs, and the Title IX Horizon | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session covers the timing decisions and forum choices that determine whether a majority-group claim survives and what it can recover. Attorneys will learn the filing window traps that forfeit viable claims — including employment applications that contractually shorten the Section 1981 limitations period, and why a timely EEOC charge does not toll the Section 1981 clock — the 90-day right-to-sue letter, Section 1981 as the rescue count when Title VII claims fall away, state-law analogs as the uncapped forum, and the Title IX question now before the Supreme Court as a possible new route outside the damages caps, closing with extended practitioner Q&A.