290 Pound Man Files Suit in S.D.N.Y. Claiming That his Civil Rights/ADA Were Violated When He Could Not Fit into White Castle Booth

Although not a typical employee discrimination case, a recent complaint was filed in S.D.N.Y. claiming that a customer’s civil rights/ADA were violated when the customer could not fit into a White Castle booth. Basically, this case involved a 6 foot – 290 pound man from Nanuet, who filed an action against White Castle claiming that the restaurant violated his civil rights because the booths at the Nanuet establishment were too small for him to sit at. The Plaintiff, who has been eating atWhiteCastlefor 52 years, wrote to the Vice President of Operations to express his frustration with the lack of accommodation for people of his stature. In response, he was advised that multiple White Castle restaurants have begun upgrading to larger seating, but could not set forth a specific date by which the Nanuet store would be upgraded. Thereafter, Plaintiff would send his wife to pick up food rather than dining at the establishment. According to the Complaint, eight months later the seating situation had not changed.

In the Complaint filed in the Southern District of New York on September 9, 2011, the Plaintiff claimed that (1) White Castle discriminated against him under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, alleging that failure to provide accommodation to an individual with Plaintiff’s physique is discriminatory; (2) the restaurant violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

White Castle has 21 days from service of the Complaint to answer the allegations.