She says employees mocked, mistreated her

From Business Week and the New York Daily News:

A federal appeals court overruled a lower court and said a blind woman can sue fast-food restaurants for ridiculing her when she asked for help reading the menu. A federal judge in Albany had initially thrown her lawsuit out on the grounds that the woman suffered no harm because she was always permitted to eat at the restaurants.

Alice Camarillo of Catskill, NY, had sued four restaurants under the Americans with Disabilities Act. She claimed in her lawsuit that she was mocked and mistreated by workers in fast-food restaurants, including employees at one who directed her to a men’s restroom and then laughed at her humiliation.

The appeals court said it reinstated the lawsuit because Camarillo sufficiently claimed that the restaurants failed to ensure “effective communication” of their menus.

The appeals court ruling means the 2005 suit — believed to be the first of its kind — could go before a jury this year. The issue is whether the restaurants properly train their employees to serve people who are blind or have disabilities.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 10:42 am and is filed under abuse, accessibility, blindness/visual impairments, law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post