Michigan Wendy’s Operator Sued by Wheelchair User Over Allegedly Excessive Parking Lot Slopes

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The operator of dozens of Wendy’s restaurants in Michigan faces a proposed class action that claims the company has failed to ensure that its parking lots are accessible by customers who use wheelchairs for mobility.

The 17-page case alleges that the “excessive sloping” found in many of the parking lots at Wendy’s locations managed by Douglas Corporation of Michigan indicate that the defendant has an inadequate internal maintenance procedure that fails to ensure the restaurants’ compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The suit argues that the inaccessibility of many of the parking areas at the defendant’s more than 60 Wendy’s restaurants to individuals who use wheelchairs for mobility demonstrates that the company’s internal policies must be modified.

The ADA is a federal law that requires places of public accommodation to be equally accessible to individuals with disabilities. The plaintiff, a Warren, Michigan walker and sometimes wheelchair user, claims to have visited one of the defendant’s Wendy’s restaurants in Detroit and experienced “unnecessary difficulty and risk of physical harm” when getting in and out of her vehicle and navigating the parking lot. The suit states that the plaintiff’s counsel conducted an investigation into at least 10 other facilities owned by Douglas Corporation and found parking spaces, access aisles and curb ramps that violated the ADA’s sloping requirements.

The lawsuit alleges that Douglas Corporation’s centralized policies and operating procedures have “systematically and routinely” resulted in excessive slopes throughout the company’s parking facilities, such that it amounts to discrimination against customers with mobility disabilities. The case looks to require not only remediation of the existing slopes at the defendant’s Wendy’s restaurants but a policy change that will ensure these conditions do not persist in the future.

“As evidenced by the widespread excessive sloping conditions present in the Parking Areas of Defendants’ facilities, absent a change in Defendants’ existing procedure, excessive sloping conditions will continue to reoccur in Defendants’ facilities even after they have been remediated,” the complaint contends.

The lawsuit looks to represent wheelchair users with qualified mobility disabilities who were denied full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations at any of the defendant’s locations in the U.S. on the basis of disability as a result of encountering accessibility barriers due to the company’s alleged failure to comply with the ADA’s slope regulations within its parking areas.

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