Company wins $600k in lawsuit against Jackson Parish for harassment by cops

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A group of door-to-door vacuum salespeople were "aggravating" residents in Jackson Parish, a deputy sheriff said as he told them to get out of town. But the Kenner-based company had a permit to solicit business at houses, and last week, the firm and its employees won a $600,000 judgment from a jury in U.S. District Court.

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"You better find the surroundings of Jackson Parish and leave it, and go to some other parish," a deputy tells Nugent in a video recording released by Nugent's attorney. "Because we ain't gonna tolerate it here."

"Even though I have a permit to work and I have paid?" Nugent asked.

"Yes, that's exactly right," another deputy says. One of the deputies says salespeople were trying to "inch" their way into someone's home.

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"My kinfolks are calling me. People's kinfolks are calling us" with complaints about the soliciting, he says on the recording. "Now you make a decision. It's up to you, but if we come back out tonight, or tomorrow, or any day, you're going to jail."

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The suit says most of Louisiana Cleaning's salespeople are black. While the deputies in the video didn't say anything directly related to race, McGovern said race plays a factor in the calls that law enforcement gets. "If you look at the complaint list, it's 'a black person's on my lawn. A black person's on my street,'" he said.

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