Anne Bucher  |  May 31, 2016

Category: Consumer News

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mcdonaldsMcDonald’s Corp. has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that some of its fast food restaurants have late night dining options that are inaccessible to the blind in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Plaintiff Scott Magee filed the McDonald’s class action lawsuit last week in Illinois federal court, seeking “to put an end to systemic civil rights violations committed by McDonald’s against blind persons in the United States.” Magee is legally blind.

According to the ADA class action lawsuit, Magee visited a McDonald’s restaurant location near his Louisiana home during late night hours in August 2015. However, the doors to the restaurant were locked and he was unable to enter the lobby. When he attempted to walk up to the drive-thru, he says he was laughed at and the McDonald’s employees refused to serve him.

Magee says he’s had similar experiences at other McDonald’s locations during late-night hours. According to the class action lawsuit, McDonald’s is denying blind customers equal access to its late night menu at thousands of restaurants across the country. Due to the late night policy, Magee says blind customers who wish to eat McDonald’s food after the lobby doors are locked must use a taxi or find a companion to drive them through the restaurant’s drive-thru.

According to the McDonald’s class action lawsuit, the fast food chain implemented the late night drive-thru only policy as an effort to increase profits by making their products only available through the drive-thru window. However, by implementing this policy, McDonald’s has failed to provide meaningful accommodation to customers who cannot drive a car because of a disability.

“Despite being accessible to the general public McDonald’s drive-thrus lack any meaningful accommodation for the blind,” Magee alleges in the McDonald’s class action lawsuit. “Because McDonald’s does not permit pedestrians to order from its drive-thru windows, the blind are totally precluded from accessing Defendant’s products during late night hours.”

Magee says that this lack of accessibility is “particularly offensive” given the size and sophistication of McDonald’s Corp. and the availability of technology that makes it possible to accommodate people with disabilities. The ADA class action lawsuit points to several examples of changes McDonald’s has made recently, including changes that improve the speed and accuracy of its drive-thru service, making the experience more desirable to consumers (and therefore more profitable to the company).

Magee states that this policy is discriminatory against blind customers and violates the ADA, a federal law aimed at eliminating discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

By filing the McDonald’s ADA class action lawsuit, Magee seeks to represent a Class of “all legally blind individuals who have been and/or are being denied access to McDonald’s late night restaurant services in the United States.” He seeks an injunction requiring McDonald’s to make its drive-thrus accessible to blind customers.

Magee is represented by Roberto Luis Costales of Costales Law Office and William H. Beaumont.

The McDonald’s ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Scott Magee v. McDonald’s Corp., Case No. 1:16-cv-05652, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

UPDATE: On May 28, 2019, Magee is fighting a bid by the fast food chain to dismiss his McDonald’s class action lawsuit over claims that the company’s policy of only providing drive-thru services late at night violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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11 thoughts onMcDonald’s Class Action: Late-Night Meals Inaccessible to the Blind

  1. Dawn Geiger says:

    There are more and more news items, etc., regarding McDonald’s Corp. and their zillions of fast-food restaurants. There was the strike several years ago by their employees, in order to raise their prices slightly. Their menu grew by leaps and bounds, and table service is now available. As to the issue of all-night service, either inside or at the drive-thru, I know of one McDonald’s in the Chicago area, at State St. and Chicago Ave., slightly near north of downtown, and west by only a few blocks of N. Michigan Ave., where walk-in, inside counter, sit-down service is available literally 24/7/365. Sometimes they were closed for about an hour at 4:00 a.m. in order to clean the place properly. Yet another rather new innovation at most McDonald’s is the Kiosk, where one’s menu choices are chosen on-screen, paid for by customer with Card right at the Kiosk, receipt received, and all the customer has to do is walk to the counter with receipt in hand, not needing to order verbally to the cashier, nor to pay at the cashier, and wait to pick up one’s order. Now I see there is a lawsuit pending about drive-thru service only late at night or overnight, evidently from a visually impaired person. What next?? One possible suggestion is to be able to call in an order (by phone or computer) and have it delivered, such as at an all-night pizza place, at a nominal extra charge or cost.

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