After rifling through every civil lawsuit in Portland month after month, you start to cast aside certain suits almost without a second glance. Auto wrecks. Slip-and-falls. And the always-popular wrongful termination.

This suit comes from the latter category, but it caught our eye for a colorful (alleged) quote that's included—supposedly verbatim—in the complaint. Journalists like to use quotes because they bring the characters in our stories to life. I'd like to encourage local lawyers always to do the same in their court filings.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Salahadin N. Treki, 48, of Newberg, claims he was hired in June 2005 as a full-time moving and storage worker at Rose City Moving & Storage Co. in North Portland.

According to the lawsuit, Treki faced discrimination on the job because he is a Muslim of Libyan origin. The lawsuit says he was denied a pay increase and was falsely accused of taking long breaks.

But the most serious charge is the bombshell. According to the lawsuit, in June 2006 Treki's foreman (who is not named in the lawsuit) confronted Treki and said (money quote):

"You fucking Arab terrorist motherfucker, I will kill you." [Link]