Black diners aim $100 million suit at Cracker Barrel

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Twenty-one people filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against Cracker Barrel restaurants Thursday, accusing the Tennessee-based chain of widespread racism by segregating black customers in the smoking section and denying them service.

It was the largest civil rights lawsuit against a restaurant chain since Denny's settled a $46 million discrimination lawsuit in 1994.

The suit, filed Thursday in federal court in Rome, Ga., accuses Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. of Lebanon, Tenn., of systematic discrimination and documents acts of alleged racism in 175 cities in 30 states.