FAIRHOPE, Ala. - A racially charged lawsuit against a Fairhope policeman and the city survived a June appeals court ruling and is scheduled for trial in November in Mobile federal district court.

Baldwin County resident Murray Lawrence sued Officer Wendell Thomas and the city in January 2009, claiming civil rights violations related to his 2007 arrest and prosecution for disorderly conduct.

He was convicted in municipal court but acquitted by a jury in state circuit court.

On the night of Jan. 26, 2007, Lawrence, who is black, and three white males were walking in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Young Street when Lawrence called out to a passing police car.

“What happened next is the subject of some dispute, but within a few minutes Thomas [who is white] had arrested the plaintiff for disorderly conduct and taken him to the jail in handcuffs,” U.S. District Judge William Steele wrote in his April 2010 order on defendants’ motion for summary judgment.

That order left standing Lawrence’s constitutional claim for malicious prosecution and his claims against the city based on state law, alleging false arrest and assault and battery.

The appellate court affirmed Steele’s order, stating “the evidence in the record of personal animosity supports a reasonable inference that Officer Thomas acted upon personal ill will that he felt towards Lawrence based on their ten-year history, or upon racial animosity toward Lawrence. We agree with the district court that ‘[Officer] Thomas has been all over the map as to why he arrested [Lawrence].’”