Jerome Bettis Files Racial Discrimination Suit Against Pittsburgh Company

Steelers Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against EQT Production Company..

Bettis claims EQT, an energy production company, owes Bettis' truck company IntegrServ money and has stopped their commitment to using minority-owned businesses. Bettis and his brother John own 51% of IntegrServ.

The lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania, western district. Bettis is filing for breach of contract and is looking for $66 million in damages.

"We filed the lawsuit because we believe we were treated unfairly.," Bettis told ESPN. "We had to take a stand against this kind of injustice."

The lawsuit states EQT agreed two white partners of Bettis to supply services previously contracted to IntegrServ. It also claims EQT broke Section 1981 (a) of the Civil Rights Act, using a double standard in justifying the termination of its contract with IntegrServ.

EQT has denied wrongdoing, claiming IntegrServ mismanaged its part of the contract.

"IntegrServ’s lawsuit is entirely without merit and contains a number of false statements," EQT said in a statement to USA Today. "The fact is that EQT is demonstrably committed to service provider diversity. In 2020, approximately 12% of our entire supplier spend to date – totaling approximately $40 million – has gone to over a hundred minority-owned businesses. IntegrServ’s contract was terminated, along with a number of other contracts from non-minority owned businesses, as part of a program to drive efficiencies and accountability across EQT’s business."

Noah Strackbein is a Publisher with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.