McDonald's settles Mich. suit over Islamic diet
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — McDonald's and one of its franchise owners agreed to pay $700,000 to members of the Muslim community to settle allegations a Detroit-area restaurant falsely advertised its food as being prepared according to Islamic dietary law.
McDonald's and Finley's Management Co. agreed Friday to the tentative settlement, with that money to be shared by Dearborn Heights resident Ahmed Ahmed, a Detroit health clinic, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn and lawyers.
Ahmed's attorney, Kassem Daklallah, told The Associated Press on Monday that he's "thrilled" with the preliminary deal that's expected to be finalized March 1. McDonald's and Finley's Management deny any liability but say the settlement is in their best interests.
The lawsuit alleged that Ahmed bought a chicken sandwich in September 2011 at a Dearborn McDonald's but found it wasn't halal — meaning it didn't meet Islamic requirements for preparing food. Islam forbids consumption of pork, and God's name must be invoked before an animal providing meat for consumption is slaughtered.
Daklallah said there are only two McDonald's in the United States that sell halal products and both are in Dearborn, which has one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim communities. Overall, the Detroit area is home to about 150,000 Muslims of many different ethnicities.
The locations advertise that they exclusively sell halal Chicken McNuggets and McChicken sandwiches and they have to get those products from an approved halal provider, Daklallah said. He said there was no evidence of problems on the production side, but he alleges that the Dearborn location on Ford Road sold non-halal products when it ran out of halal.
Daklallah said he was approached by Ahmed, and they conducted an investigation. A letter sent to McDonald's Corp. and Finley's Management by Daklallah's firm said Ahmed had "confirmed from a source familiar with the inventory" that the restaurant had sold non-halal food "on many occasions."
After they received no response to the letter, Daklallah said, they filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court in November 2011 as part of a class action.
The AP left messages Monday afternoon for attorneys representing the corporation and the franchise.
In the settlement notice, Finley's Management said it "has a carefully designed system for preparing and serving halal such that halal chicken products are labeled, stored, refrigerated, and cooked in halal-only areas." The company added it trains its employees on preparing halal food and "requires strict adherence to the process."
He said although Ahmed believes McDonald's was negligent, there was no evidence that the chain set out to deceive customers.
"McDonald's from the very beginning stepped up and took this case very seriously," Daklallah said. "They made it clear they wanted to resolve this. They got ahead of the problem."
The lawsuit covers anyone who bought the halal-advertised products from the Ford Road restaurant and another Dearborn McDonald's with a different owner between September 2005 and last Friday. Since that would be impossible to determine, Daklallah said both sides agreed to provide money to community-based charities that benefit members of this group.
The other location on Michigan Avenue wasn't a defendant or a focus of the investigation, Daklallah said.
He said the final hearing will ultimately determine who gets what and how much, but roughly $275,000 is expected to go to the Huda Clinic, about $150,000 to the museum, $230,000 to attorneys and $20,000 to Ahmed.
Daklallah said he believes it's the first lawsuit of its kind related to McDonald's and halal food.
In 2002, McDonald's agreed to donate $10 million to Hindu and other groups in the U.S. to settle lawsuits that accused the chain of mislabeling french fries and hash browns as vegetarian. The vegetable oil used to prepare the items had contained traces of beef for flavoring purposes.
McDonald's and Finley's Management Co. agreed Friday to the tentative settlement, with that money to be shared by Dearborn Heights resident Ahmed Ahmed, a Detroit health clinic, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn and lawyers.
Ahmed's attorney, Kassem Daklallah, told The Associated Press on Monday that he's "thrilled" with the preliminary deal that's expected to be finalized March 1. McDonald's and Finley's Management deny any liability but say the settlement is in their best interests.
The lawsuit alleged that Ahmed bought a chicken sandwich in September 2011 at a Dearborn McDonald's but found it wasn't halal — meaning it didn't meet Islamic requirements for preparing food. Islam forbids consumption of pork, and God's name must be invoked before an animal providing meat for consumption is slaughtered.
Daklallah said there are only two McDonald's in the United States that sell halal products and both are in Dearborn, which has one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim communities. Overall, the Detroit area is home to about 150,000 Muslims of many different ethnicities.
The locations advertise that they exclusively sell halal Chicken McNuggets and McChicken sandwiches and they have to get those products from an approved halal provider, Daklallah said. He said there was no evidence of problems on the production side, but he alleges that the Dearborn location on Ford Road sold non-halal products when it ran out of halal.
Daklallah said he was approached by Ahmed, and they conducted an investigation. A letter sent to McDonald's Corp. and Finley's Management by Daklallah's firm said Ahmed had "confirmed from a source familiar with the inventory" that the restaurant had sold non-halal food "on many occasions."
After they received no response to the letter, Daklallah said, they filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court in November 2011 as part of a class action.
The AP left messages Monday afternoon for attorneys representing the corporation and the franchise.
In the settlement notice, Finley's Management said it "has a carefully designed system for preparing and serving halal such that halal chicken products are labeled, stored, refrigerated, and cooked in halal-only areas." The company added it trains its employees on preparing halal food and "requires strict adherence to the process."
He said although Ahmed believes McDonald's was negligent, there was no evidence that the chain set out to deceive customers.
"McDonald's from the very beginning stepped up and took this case very seriously," Daklallah said. "They made it clear they wanted to resolve this. They got ahead of the problem."
The lawsuit covers anyone who bought the halal-advertised products from the Ford Road restaurant and another Dearborn McDonald's with a different owner between September 2005 and last Friday. Since that would be impossible to determine, Daklallah said both sides agreed to provide money to community-based charities that benefit members of this group.
The other location on Michigan Avenue wasn't a defendant or a focus of the investigation, Daklallah said.
He said the final hearing will ultimately determine who gets what and how much, but roughly $275,000 is expected to go to the Huda Clinic, about $150,000 to the museum, $230,000 to attorneys and $20,000 to Ahmed.
Daklallah said he believes it's the first lawsuit of its kind related to McDonald's and halal food.
In 2002, McDonald's agreed to donate $10 million to Hindu and other groups in the U.S. to settle lawsuits that accused the chain of mislabeling french fries and hash browns as vegetarian. The vegetable oil used to prepare the items had contained traces of beef for flavoring purposes.
This story reminds me of the one with the car rental place in Seatac. Muslims sued because they were being fired for taking 10-15 breaks every so often to do their prayer. All the managers were saying is that if you want to pray that's fine but do it on your break.
So the guy ate something against his religion?? What pain and suffering did he incur??? Give me a break. I understand what happened but this would have flew in and Islamic country if I sued because of religious beliefs. Go back to your own country and try to sue for any reason.................................. GOOD LUCK. America is becoming way to passive to foreigners and their beliefs and less and less about our own beliefs. We can't celebrate Christmas in schools, we cant celebrate Halloween in schools, they fight us if their child has to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. If they don't like our country and our beliefs then they should move back to their country where everything is perfect. Â
you people have no problem with a business promising one thing and delivering another?
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mcdonalds has nobody to blame but themselves (or this franchise at least).
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just mention "Muslim" in any story and watch the comment thread get real simple real quick - derp derp derp durn Moos-lims.
McDonalds shouldn't have lied, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for anyone who believes in all this religious nonsense. This is the year 2013, it's time to put away the fairy tales and focus on reality.
McDonald's should know better. You can please some of the people some of the time...........but in America you can't please Muslim's any of the time.
Outrageous. I'm no anti-muslim bigot-not even close; but this is outrageous.
You want "halal", go back to the sand!!!
Search youtube on how animals are killed the halal way, you will be disturbed.Â
Deals like this had been called extortion. I'd hope for a religion free dining experience.
Notice that the reporter doesn't tell us how halal is performed.Â
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From Wikipedia: "This method of slaughtering animals consists of using a well sharpened knife to make a swift, deep incision that cuts the front of the throat, the carotid artery, wind pipe and jugular veins. . . . Animal rights groups have objected to Halal, saying that it is a form of animal torture. The animal is positioned in order to have its blood completely drained (if size permits) and left to exsanguinate."
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Conclusions:
(1) Halal should be banned in the U.S.
(2) Until it's banned, beware eating at any establishment that says its food meets halal standards. By patronizing such establishments, you encourage food producers to do *everything* halal so they can cut costs and produce food in just one way. That's what is happening in many places in Europe. People are getting halal whether they like it or not. So don't participate.
@wayne0021 so would like to have a basebal bat to the head? 12 GA slug in the head head lopped off. tell us how would you slaughter animals?
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@wayne0021 the end result is the same so who cares?
 @wayne0021 Kosher meat is prepared in the same way.
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Do you think kosher food should be banned in the U.S.?
 @Sutekh  @wayne0021 Yes if it's an animal.
Yes. I'm an equal opportunity anti-animal-cruelity person.
It's funny though beefy fries tasted better then than they do now...thanks alot Ahmed.
@Good guy bad thoughts exactly!
I would tell them to pound sand and have a free McRib!
Restaurants should be honest abiut the food they serve, but this IS MCDONALDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's mega-processed fake-o stuff.
Why would anyone expect the food to be of ANY quality at all.
I'm gonna sue becasue they have people smilong in thier ads and last time I ate there it didn't make me happy.
@hardtowatchitfade, if you don't like it, don't eat it. If it doesn't make you happy, eat at some verggie bar and leave McDonald's to those of us who like an occasional Big Mac.
Why can't people just go ,get something to eat,and not complain or sue ?  if you are so faithful to your religion then go someplace other than McDonalds to get it .Â
 @Maynard G Krebbs I don't think that's the point. The issue is that they lied about it. It does seem sort of ridiculous to be looking for holy food at a McDonalds, but it's still not ok for the restaurant to lie about it.
 @merline  @Maynard G Krebbs I agree that obviously this company lied...or at the very least mislead about the availability of the halal products. That said I would think that the prosecution would have to, on a more probable than not basis, show ingestion of the non-halal product to verify damages. From what I am reading here it is all possible...the McDonald's sold the replacement when they ran out of the halal inventory. Not as a regular..but as an alternative.
 @merline  @aintno1special Why ? McDonalds corporate didn't lie and individual franchisee did .
 @merline No, but the attorney will get 1/3 of the $700K, or $210K. THAT I take issue with.
 @aintno1special Yeah, I see your point, and I am generally opposed to frivolous lawsuits, but I am still OK with them paying punitive damages just for telling the lie, even if the guy never ate the sandwich. The amount is like pennies to such an enormous corporation, and it doesn't even sound like the bulk of it is going to the guy who filed the suit. I don't think the guy "deserves" the money necessarily, but I do think McDonalds deserves to pay for this kind of deception.Â