Allen v. Jenkins

By Judge Clifford R. Weckstein

Wallace I. Allen has brought this suit against his former employer, First Union National Bank of Virginia. He alleges that on August 2, 1993, he was the bank’s “highest ranking African-American employee,” when he was terminated because of his age and race, contrary to the public policy of Virginia. First Union, which denies that it wrongfully discharged Allen, says that this state law claim is barred by die National Bank Act of 1864, 12 U.S.C. § 24 (Fifth), which provides that a national bank’s officers seive at the pleasure of its board of directors.

The immunity…