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Another class action lawsuit against McDonald's

Suman Guha Mozumder
India Abroad Correspondent in New York

Less than a month after it furnished an apology over the issue of beef flavouring in its French fries, fast food giant McDonald's has been charged with intentional misrepresentation and deceptive trade practices in a class-action lawsuit filed in a Texas court.

The lawsuit, filed in the District Court in Travis County, Austin, on June 8 on behalf of Hindus in Texas, alleges that Hindu moral and religious principles have been violated by their unintentional consumption of French fries allegedly flavoured with beef since 1990.

The plaintiffs have all eaten McDonald's French fries in the state of Texas and other states having been led to believe that they contained no beef, the lawsuit alleged. The plaintiffs were, in fact, explicitly informed that McDonald's French fries contained no animal products, it added.

Named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed by lawyers Arvind Mahendru and his brother Ashish Mahendru, are Sat Bansal, Bhagubhai K Patel and Pushker Raj of Travis County.

Last month, in an apparent bid to soothe the feathers ruffled by public knowledge that its French fries contained beef flavouring, McDonald's had issued an apology for the confusion.

"We regret if customers felt that the information we provided was not complete enough to meet their needs. If there was confusion, we apologise," said a message posted on the company's USA website.

However, news reports quoting the company said the apology did not mean it was admitting to claims that it misled million of customers by adding beef extract to its fries.

"McDonald's has operations in India, therefore it cannot plead ignorance to the dietary constraints of Hindus," Ashish Mahendru told India Abroad.

"McDonald's should have realised there is diversity in our communities in the US and should have fully disclosed that it was adding beef product to its French fries," he said.

The lawsuit alleged that from 1990 till present the defendants fraudulently and intentionally concealed their use of beef from the plaintiffs and advertised these products as containing vegetable oil and natural flavouring.

Besides McDonald's Corporation, McDonald's restaurants in Texas and Haljohn Holdings Inc, distributors for McDonald's, have been named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Mahendru said that whether the lawsuit would be certified as a class action or not by the court would be known in 20 days.

The latest lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages from the fast food company, differs from the one filed last month by a Seattle-based Indian-American attorney.

Whereas the earlier suit represented all vegetarians, the Texas suit represents all Hindus of Texas and others similarly situated, Mahendru said. "This lawsuit is more focused and limited," Mahendru said.

Also, unlike the Seattle lawsuit, the latest lawsuit charges McDonald's under Texas laws, one of which is Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The McDonald's Controversy: Complete Coverage

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