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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsMcDonald's Patron Beat With Spatula Loses Suit
McDonald's Patron Beat With Spatula Loses Suit
(CN) - McDonald's cannot be sued because one of its cashiers beat a customer with a spatula, the Mississippi Court of Appeals ruled.
Kerri Parmenter and her cousin went to McDonald's in Holly Springs, Miss., on Aug. 11, 2000. Annoyed with waiting to claim their drive-thru order, the women entered the restaurant.
Parmenter got into a verbal duel with cashier Kesha Jones, later admitting that she told Jones, "Bitch, you need to need to get out of my face."
Jones complied, but she soon returned with a spatula and whacked Parmenter across the head, cheek and arm.
...
"It is unclear to the court the exact cause for plaintiff's displeasure, whether the Big Mack (sic) was soggy, the fries limp, or the coffee cold, but in any event, plaintiff was unhappy and apparently voiced her annoyance to an employee who was engaged as a cashier," Lackey wrote. The decision also states that the employee used the metal spatula "in a fashion contrary to its intended use or for which it was designed, but a use with which all mothers of young children are acquainted."
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"Based on the facts of this case, McDonald's cannot be held liable for the actions of Jones under the doctrine of respondeat superior because McDonald's was not a master or employer of Jones," Judge Ermea Russell wrote for a three-judge panel.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/01/44331.htm
Apparently lawsuits involving violence and corporations go in the lounge.