The Time McDonald's Was Nearly Sued Over A Napkin
People have sued McDonald's for some very serious reasons, including alleged racial discrimination (via CNBC), wage theft (via Business Insider), and sexual harassment (via Reuters). Others have sued the fast-food giant for reasons that, well, may seem less legitimate.
In 2018, for example, a couple of customers tried to sue McDonald's after claiming its menu no longer offered a cheese-free Quarter Pounder. Although there are other reasons why you should think twice about ordering a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, these customers took issue with it costing 90 cents more than without cheese. As you might guess, they did not win that $5 million lawsuit (via Fox News).
Another time, a man injured in a car accident sued McDonald's because the other driver was eating fast food when the accident occurred (via Worthly). The lawsuit was thrown out, as a judge ruled that McDonald's was in no way responsible for the driver spilling a shake in his car and hitting another vehicle.
One other lawsuit you may not have heard about revolves around the chain's napkin service.
Talk about a messy McDonald's situation
Many of us have been there — you get your fast-food order, and there's only one napkin. Sure, it's annoying, but is it worth suing the restaurant? One man apparently thought so. According to Huffpost, a customer sued McDonald's in 2014 for $1.5 million after he was given only one napkin.
The customer, Webster Lucas, got into an argument with the manager, demanding to know if the reason he couldn't get more napkins was because he was black. Lucas later filed the lawsuit on the grounds of being unable to work because of "mental anguish," even though the manager attempted to give him some free burgers.
NBC Los Angeles labeled Lucas a "vexatious litigant" — someone who frequently files lawsuits. Vexatious litigants are blocked for a set period of time from filing additional lawsuits. The courts filed a motion to declare Lucas as such in April 2014, and the motion passed unopposed (via PlainSite). Talk about a messy situation.