Federal Judge rules Byron Allen’s $10 billion lawsuit against McDonald’s for racial discrimination will go to trial
The latest ruling in a lawsuit filed by Allen's media companies is hailed as "historic" as Allen uses a post-Civil War statute in his bid against the fast food chain.
A judge has ruled in favor of media mogul and owner of theGrio, Byron Allen, allowing his $10 billion racial discrimination lawsuit against McDonald’s to proceed in California federal court, theGrio reports.
United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the suit filed against McDonald’s by Allen’s media companies under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to go to trial court. The lawsuit alleges that the fast food chain blocked Allen and his media properties, including his TV networks and streaming assets, from McDonald’s general market ad agency responsible for dispersing the vast majority of McDonald’s massive ad budget. According to court filings, McDonald’s spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to advertise its products in national media.
Instead, the lawsuit claims Allen and his companies were relegated to McDonald’s Black-only ad agency, which has a significantly smaller budget. The racial discrimination suit argues that despite annual pleas for the Allen Media companies to be included in McDonald’s general ad market, they remained in its Black-only market because Allen is Black, which Allen’s parent company Entertainment Studios described as “blatant and pernicious discrimination.”
In his 25-page ruling, Judge Olguin denied McDonald’s motion for a summary judgment in its favor. Instead, the case will proceed in a court trial that could see Allen succeed in a groundbreaking racial discrimination suit.
“We have overwhelming evidence against McDonald’s — who has been sued by its Black executives, Black franchisees, and their global head of security — for racial discrimination,” Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, said in a statement to theGrio. “It is time for the McDonald’s Board of Directors, stockholders, and civil rights organizations nationwide to call for the resignation of CEO Chris Kempczinski, who was caught sending racist text messages about Black and Hispanic people.”
Allen’s attorney in the case, Louis R. “Skip” Miller of Miller Barondess, called Judge Olguin’s order a “historic ruling,” adding, “We look forward to presenting the evidence of racial discrimination by McDonald’s against our client to a Los Angeles jury in federal court.”
The law used in Allen’s suit against McDonald’s is a post a post-Civil War statute that allowed “all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States” to have the same right to uphold contracts “as is enjoyed by white citizens.” The law’s objective was to safeguard Black enterprises from racial discrimination during America’s Reconstruction era, just one year after the Civil War ended, freeing enslaved African Americans from centuries of bondage.
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