McDonald’s Class Action Says Customers Unfairly Charged for Cheese

McDonald’s faces a class action lawsuit alleging that the popular fast food restaurant wrongfully charges their customers for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese when they order a plain Quarter Pounder.

Plaintiffs Cynthia Kissner and Leonard Werner say they are customers of the McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain and have been unfairly charged for cheese on their cheese-less Quarter Pounders.

The Quarter Pounder is one of McDonald’s signature hamburgers and is comprised of one quarter pound of hamburger with onion, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. The restaurant also sells a version of the hamburger with cheese for an increased price. The plaintiffs say McDonald’s is making them pay for the cheese when they order the version without the topping.

The McDonald’s class action lawsuit claims that the company has formatted its menu so that the Quarter Pounder with Cheese and the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese are both assigned a number for ordering.

However, the versions of the hamburgers without cheese are allegedly missing from the menu, forcing customers to order the versions with cheese and request no cheese. Despite having no cheese on the hamburgers, customers are allegedly charged the extra $0.30 to $0.90 for cheese.

In their McDonald’s Quarter Pounder class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that McDonald’s point of sale systems have a separate button for a Quarter Pounder with no cheese which charges the appropriate price. However, McDonald’s allegedly uses the option for a Quarter Pounder with cheese to increase profits.

“Ultimately, through these practices, customers who want a Quarter Pounder or a Double Quarter Pounder, or a value meal including one of these products, have been overcharged, and coerced to order, purchase and pay for cheese that they do not want and do not receive as a condition to their purchase of the desired hamburger,” the McDonald’s hamburger class action lawsuit states.

Kissner and Werner claim that the allegedly systematic practice of charging for cheese is a ploy to increase profit at the expense of their customers.

“McDonald’s is being unjustly enriched at its customers’ expense to the extent that it collects payment, or a percentage of the payment for cheese that is not delivered in connection with the sale of Quarter Pounders, Double Quarter Pounders, and value meals that include one of these products,” the McDonald’s class action lawsuit claims.

Kissner and Werner seek to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who purchased a Quarter Pounder or Double Quarter Pounder and were charged for versions with cheese.

They also seek to represent a Florida subclass of the same consumers and an unjust enrichment subclass of the same consumers in states with applicable unjust enrichment laws. The plaintiffs seeks a Class certification, compensatory damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The McDonald’s customers are represented by Andrew T. Lavin of Lavin Law Group PA.

The McDonald’s Quarter Pounder With Cheese Class Action Lawsuit is Kissner, et al. v. McDonald’s Corporation, Case No. 0:18-cv-61026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

UPDATE: On June 29, 2018, McDonald’s asked a federal judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit claiming that McDonald’s should reduce the price of a Quarter Pounder when a customer orders it without cheese.