Blind man who tried to use Bay Area drive-thrus loses bid to sue McDonald’s
McDonald’s has won dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a blind man who was turned away when he tried to walk up to the drive-thru window.
Two of the three restaurants sued were in the Bay Area. The plaintiff visited them when he was on a tour of California McDonald’s intended to bolster his case.
In granting summary judgment to the fast-food chain Tuesday, a federal judge in Illinois said Scott Magee failed to make his case that he was discriminated against because he is legally blind.
“Magee’s disability is not what prevents him from purchasing McDonald’s food during the late-night hours; it is instead his status as a pedestrian that limits his access,” the ruling said.
Magee lives in Metairie, Louisiana, and it was there that he first attempted to order from a drive-thru window when a McDonald’s was closed for the night to walk-in customers. Because of his impaired sight, he can’t drive a car.
His suit alleges that the employees “laughed, and told him to go away.”
After he filed his initial suit in May 2016, he went to California as “part of a lawyer-planned ‘test’ of other McDonald’s USA restaurants to strengthen Magee’s case,” the judge’s ruling noted. His lawyers paid for the trip.
A friend drove Magee to McDonald’s restaurants and parked while the plaintiff attempted to order on foot from the drive-thru. At two Bay Area restaurants — 1100 Fillmore in San Francisco on June 4, 2016, and 9725 International Blvd. in Oakland on the following night — employees “rebuffed” him, and he “felt difficulty, discomfort, and embarrassment,” his lawsuit said.
In requesting summary judgment — dismissal of the case — McDonald’s also contended that Magee was not a legitimate patron of the Bay Area drive-thru windows. The judge did not address that issue as he had already deemed summary judgment appropriate on the more compelling matter that Magee “failed to show that, but for his disability, he would have been permitted to walk up and order food via the drivethrough.”