Wheelchair User Sues KFC Operator Over Allegedly Excessive Slopes in Parking Areas

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A proposed class action alleges the operator of KFC restaurants across the South and Midwest has discriminated against customers with mobility disabilities by failing to address excessive sloping conditions in the eateries’ parking facilities.

The 14-page case claims that the slopes in the restaurants’ purportedly accessible parking spots, access aisles and curb ramps exceed limits set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and make it difficult or impossible for customers who use wheelchairs to safely navigate defendant JRN, Inc.’s facilities. Per the suit, the non-ADA compliant sloping conditions are widespread across the company’s restaurants and are a result of JRN’s failure to establish an adequate internal maintenance procedure.

According to the case, JRN operates at least 160 KFC restaurants in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The plaintiff is a Frankfort, Kentucky resident who says he experienced “unnecessary difficulty and risk of physical harm” when exiting and entering his vehicle and navigating the parking area at a Lexington KFC restaurant. According to the suit, investigators acting on the plaintiff’s behalf examined the purportedly accessible parking areas at several other KFC locations believed to be operated by JRN and found the following conditions:

• Landings at the top of curb ramps with running and cross slopes exceeding 2.1 percent;
• Parking spaces and access aisles with slopes exceeding 2.1 percent;
• Curb ramps projecting into access aisles;
• A curb ramp on the route to the building entrance with a running slope exceeding 8.33 percent;
• A maneuvering clearance area next to the facility’s entrance with a slope exceeding 2.1 percent; and
• A curb ramp on the route to the building entrance with a flare exceeding 10 percent.

According to the case, the aforementioned conditions do not comply with the ADA’s standards for accessible parking areas.

The lawsuit argues that these widespread excessive sloping conditions will persist unless the defendant is ordered to change its existing procedures.

The case looks to represent all wheelchair users with qualified mobility disabilities who were denied the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations of any JRN location in the U.S. on the basis of disability because they encountered accessibility barriers due to the defendant’s failure to comply with the ADA’s slope regulations in a restaurant’s purportedly accessible parking area.

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