Why Is This Blind Man Suing McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD)?

In what could be another epic law suit (the kind we talk about for years to come), global fast food chain McDonald’s has until mid June to respond to a federal lawsuit accusing the company of discrimination against a blind person.

This is one of those cases that might make you sit back and think, “Well, maybe he has a point.”

The plaintiff, Scott Magee of Metairie, Louisiana, said in court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago that he was laughed at and turned away from the drive-thru window at a McDonald’s in the New Orleans suburb late at night last August. According to Magee, it wasn’t the first time that had happened.

So what exactly happened? Magee walked up to the drive-thru window at McDonald’s hoping to be served. Blind people can’t drive, and with the store closed at night, the drive-thru was his only option. However, the chain’s policy is not to serve pedestrians at the drive-thru and only cars.

According to the law suit, the blind are effectively barred from patronizing the world’s largest fast food chain by revenue and is seeking class-action status for all blind Americans who may have had difficulty ordering at McDonald’s.

“While McDonald’s sighted customers can independently browse, select, and pay for products at Defendant’s drive-thrus without the assistance of others, blind people must hope for a companion with a car or paid taxi services to assist them in selecting and purchasing McDonald’s food,” according to the suit.

The suit says it wouldn’t take much for the company to make its drive-thru windows work for blind people, “given the sophistication and size of McDonald’s Corporation as well as the advanced technological society in which we live today.”

Senior U.S. District Judge Joan B. Gottschall gave McDonald’s until June 17 to respond.

Disclaimer: We have no position in McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) and have not been compensated for this article.