Cracker Barrel Serves Up ADA Class Action Settlement

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Preliminary approval of a proposed class action settlement alleging Cracker Barrel violated the Americans with Disabilities Act was granted by a Pennsylvania federal judge.

Lead plaintiff Sarah Heinzl alleged in her 2014 class action lawsuit that the slopes in Cracker Barrel parking lots were too steep to be used by people with disabilities.

According to the settlement proposal, Cracker Barrel will rectify the situation and bring its parking lots into compliance with the ADA.

“There can be no question that this Lawsuit was vigorously pursued and hotly contested throughout,” notes the plaintiffs motion in support of the proposed settlement agreement. “[T]he Parties engaged in numerous discovery disputes, including several motions to compel and motions for protective orders, and participated in countless hours of discovery-related meet and confer negotiations.”

According to settlement documentation, 107 Cracker Barrel restaurants will have 30 months to come into compliance with the ADA. These 107 stores were run by one company that the class action singled out as having issues with adhering to ADA requirements.

The rest of the restaurant chain’s more than 600 locations will be divided by age. Staff members at restaurants opened before May 1 of this year will have to take a survey to assess whether their parking lots are ADA complaint. Stores that are not in compliance will have several years to rectify the problems found by the survey.

For newer restaurants opened after May 1 of this year, the settlement requires they obtain a certification of compliance with ADA standards from an independent firm. In addition, these stores will have to take the same ADA compliance survey as the older stores within four years of opening.

“In addition, the settlement contains notable reporting and monitoring provisions to ensure that Cracker Barrel meets its obligations. Cracker Barrel must provide annual reports to Class Counsel on its compliance with the settlement’s injunctive relief provisions at which point Class Counsel will conduct an audit of a certain subset of stores that were reportedly remediated,” notes the motion for approval of the proposed settlement agreement.

The plaintiff will also receive $7,500 and Cracker Barrel will pay $830,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

According to the order granting approval, the preliminary settlement agreement will need to go to a Fairness Hearing in August. Members of the Class must file any objections with the court by July 13 of this year.

“The relief achieved on behalf of the Class in this action is nothing less than extraordinary. It represents the culmination of two and a half years of hard-fought litigation. It provides systemic and comprehensive injunctive relief for the Class,” says the memo in support of the class action settlement.

Heinzl is represented by Benjamin J. Sweet, R. Bruce Carlson, Edwin J. Kilpela, and Stephanie K. Goldin of Carlson Lynch Sweet Kilpela & Carpenter LLP.

The Cracker Barrel ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Sarah Heinzl v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., Case No. 2:14-­cv-­01455, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.