Nucor-Yamato Steel Corp. is claiming victory in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company, hours after attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case claimed victory in their own right.

Blytheville, Ark.-based Nucor-Yamato is vowing to appeal a judgment against it by a jury in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

The company said the case, known as Bennett vs. Nucor, was filed seven years ago, claiming a nationwide class action on a variety of employment claims. When the nationwide class action was dismissed, the company said, plaintiffs' lawyers sought a plant-wide class action that also was dismissed, leaving a handful of individuals who proceeded to a jury verdict.

The jury—comprised of 11 white members and one African-American—this week awarded the six African-American plaintiffs a total of $1.2 million in compensatory and punitive damages after finding that the plaintiffs...