A blind man sues McDonald's for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act after a personnel laughed at him for walking up to its drive-thru late at night.
A federal judge on Wednesday says a blind man has legal standing to sue McDonald's over its drive-thru-only ordering. Scott Magee claims the fast-food giant violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and wants it to come up with a resolution for those who physically can't drive through a drive-thru.
Magee, who is blind, filed the lawsuit in May alleging that McDonald's violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by offering drive-thru only ordering to its customers in cars when the interior of the store is closed. Many McDonald's locations operate only as drive-thrus late at night as a security measure, Chicago Tribune has learned. Magee claims such policy is a disadvantage to disabled customers who don't drive.
Roberto Costales, the lawyer representing Magee, says most Americans have the experience of driving through McDonald's drive thru and ordering for themselves. "That's an experience Mr. Magee doesn't have," he said. The class action lawsuit isn't asking McDonald's to allow people to start walking through drive-thrus but find another way to serve customers without cars, particularly the disabled.
McDonald's had since attempted to dismiss the case and following the recent actions being made, its representatives declined to comment. Costales offers a possible solution such as allowing people to order ahead and have an employee bring the food out to them. This can be done through McDonald's mobile app that rolled out in 2015 and is expected to launch an order-and-pay function sometime this year.
This isn't the first-time Magee was laughed at and refused by some personnel for walking up to McDonald's drive-thru as it also happened in San Francisco and Calif. The blind man felt ashamed of his inability to access its services during late night hours and filed the lawsuit to represent and protect the interest of members of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court ruled Magee had standing to sue since he is likely to visit McDonald's again and furthers he could also seek damages related to other McDonald's locations under a California law.
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