Midnight Mike
2007-07-04, 09:19 PM
McDonald's Refuses To Serve Woman With No Hands
Woman Suing After Drive-Thru Incident
(CBS) ROCKFORD, Ill. A genetic syndrome has left Illinois resident Dawn Larson without hands or fully developed arms.
Larson has learned to lead a full life by using her feet. She's even able to drive.
She says she's never had a problem in public until she went through a McDonald's drive-thru in Rockford last fall. Normally, Larson first gives the cashier her debit card to pay for the order and then grabs the food and drink with both feet.
But at McDonald's she said they took her money at one window but wouldn't give her the food at the next window. Larson says she felt degraded.
"I reached my foot out the window to grab the food," says Larson. "She set the food down, raised her hands up really high in the air and slammed them down on the counter. This was like violently."
"'I am not doing this,' she screamed that at me, 'Absolutely not doin' this.'"
The restaurant offered her a $10 gift certificate. She then contacted a lawyer and two months later experienced the same thing at a different Rockford McDonald's.
Now she's suing the company for $4 million and wants it to improve employee training.
"She was asking for no special accommodations, she just wanted to be treated like everyone else. And that's where I believe McDonald's certainly violated her rights," said Laurel Wykes Smith, Dawn's Attorney.
McDonald's says it can't comment on Larson's lawsuit but it has a strict policy against any discrimination in its restaurants.
Woman Suing After Drive-Thru Incident
(CBS) ROCKFORD, Ill. A genetic syndrome has left Illinois resident Dawn Larson without hands or fully developed arms.
Larson has learned to lead a full life by using her feet. She's even able to drive.
She says she's never had a problem in public until she went through a McDonald's drive-thru in Rockford last fall. Normally, Larson first gives the cashier her debit card to pay for the order and then grabs the food and drink with both feet.
But at McDonald's she said they took her money at one window but wouldn't give her the food at the next window. Larson says she felt degraded.
"I reached my foot out the window to grab the food," says Larson. "She set the food down, raised her hands up really high in the air and slammed them down on the counter. This was like violently."
"'I am not doing this,' she screamed that at me, 'Absolutely not doin' this.'"
The restaurant offered her a $10 gift certificate. She then contacted a lawyer and two months later experienced the same thing at a different Rockford McDonald's.
Now she's suing the company for $4 million and wants it to improve employee training.
"She was asking for no special accommodations, she just wanted to be treated like everyone else. And that's where I believe McDonald's certainly violated her rights," said Laurel Wykes Smith, Dawn's Attorney.
McDonald's says it can't comment on Larson's lawsuit but it has a strict policy against any discrimination in its restaurants.