Some people really like to get their money’s worth from fast food companies, and one couple took it to a whole new level with a McDonald’s lawsuit over sliced cheese.
The fast food giant is not unused to odd lawsuits.
Among others, the fast food giant has been sued after an elderly woman suffered burns after spilling very hot coffee on herself, and for a man’s mental anguish caused by not getting enough napkins, and the following row.
But the McDonald’s lawyers must have been rolling their eyes when a couple tried to sue for $5m over the price of a slice of cheese.
What was the lawsuit?
McDonald’s was hit with legal action in 2018 over a couple of pieces of cheese.
Two customers demanded $5 million from the company for what could be described at best as a minor disagreement.
The pair, a married couple, decided to sue after they were charged the price of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese……for a Quarter Pounder without cheese.
They pointed out hamburgers and cheeseburgers are different prices on the McDonald’s menu, but when they order a Quarter Pounder without the extra dairy, they’re still forced to pay the same amount.
The suit claimed:
“McDonald’s is being unjustly enriched by these practices because it receives payment for cheese it does not deliver to its customers.”
The couple argued they had “suffered injury as a result of their purchases because they were overcharged.”
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US District Judge William Dimitrouleas wasn’t having any of it, saying the Quarter Pounder and Quarter Pounder with Cheese are different products, and each can be bought at McDonald’s.
He called the couple’s attempt to say the hamburger is only available with cheese is “absurd and fails.”
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According to the Miami Herald, the judge’s dismissals of the case said:
“Under any common sense analysis, there is no market for a customer to come into a McDonald’s restaurant and order a slice or two of ‘cheese’ as a product that is separate, distinct, and independent from any other product or menu item.
“Nor is there a separate product market for a customer to order a slice of tomato, or a slice of lettuce, or a slice of pickle, etc.”
The price of a single slice of cheese was not revealed during the case. Neither was the cost of bringing the case to court.
