banned from business - should i sue for discrimination?

[justalayman]

I am going to make a few tiny, not exactly legal suggestions.

Don't go back to the exact McD restaurant this incident this occured at all or at least not for a long long time, like a 3 or 4 years.

If you go into a McD and they haven't gotten the message you are unbanned or still think you are banned, just get out of there, get out the area as quickly as you can. Don't argue, don't try to prove a point. Cops can be rough on people they think are being disruptive

Maybe Mcd's will provide him with a nice letter of intro in case somebody hasn't gotten the message




but to the "get out of there" suggestion; especially due to the Tourette's I would leave immediately if somebody suggested it would be a good idea. I can imagine some bone headed cop that doesn't understand what Tourette's is getting kind of pissed off as you say; F you a few times or grab your crotch (don't know what your tics actually cause you but the speech is known and you apparently have a crotch thing going on) and doing a body slam or taser zap to set you straight thinking you are being belligerent.

 

[quincy]

I am going to make a few tiny, not exactly legal suggestions.

Don't go back to the exact McD restaurant this incident this occured at all or at least not for a long long time, like a 3 or 4 years.

If you go into a McD and they haven't gotten the message you are unbanned or still think you are banned, just get out of there, get out the area as quickly as you can. Don't argue, don't try to prove a point. Cops can be rough on people they think are being disruptive

I don't think politecitizen should feel he has to avoid any public place just because the public is ignorant of his disorder.

That said, it could be smart for politecitizen to get IN WRITING from McDonald's Corporate Headquarters, and the owner of the McDonald's he used to frequent, that his ban from the premises has been lifted - with the letter containing an additional note, perhaps, on how it is illegal to discriminate against those with disabilities. This letter could then be carried by politecitizen, to pull out if or when there is a need.

It is sad that any extra steps need to be taken by politecitizen but Tourette's is still an unknown or confusing disorder to many. Most people* will not be disturbed by a person's random outbursts or tics once they understand that the person has little to no control over them. Knowledge tends to be key to acceptance (or, at the very least, tolerance).



*but there are always jerks

 

[cbg]

It is also sad that the first reaction of so many Americans, including the OP, upon any kind of misunderstanding is, Who can I sue?

 

[justalayman]

It is also sad that the first reaction of so many Americans, including the OP, upon any kind of misunderstanding is, Who can I sue?

In his defense it does appear he attempted to deal with this without involving the courts as a first line of action. He wrote so many emails he was threatened with arrest for harassment if he continued.

 

[xylene]

I don't think politecitizen should feel he has to avoid any public place just because the public is ignorant of his disorder.

That's a fair point, but so is not rewarding a business who has already disparaged you and could put heat on you if they wanted to (whatever get out of jail free card) at least for a good long time is sound.

It is just my experience that mid-grade restuarant managers running the night shift can be a testy lot.

A cup of joe is not so hard to find, even at night.

 

[quincy]

It is also sad that the first reaction of so many Americans, including the OP, upon any kind of misunderstanding is, Who can I sue?

I agree it is sad that so many people feel a lawsuit is the answer to even the most simple of disputes.

But I agree with justalayman. Although politecitizen did ask about a lawsuit, he had already made attempts to resolve the matter on his own first. And a lawsuit could have been a legitimate action to take.

I have to say that, after reading some of the cases I did, some of those being sued really deserved to be sued (for example, search for "Jeffrey Marthon v. Maple Grove Condominium Association" - I have a link somewhere but can't find it). It sometimes takes a costly lawsuit to show a defendant just how wrong their actions are (Wal-Mart apparently needs to be shown this over and over again ).

It was interesting to me that, in one of the cases I looked at, there was no monetary award of damages to the winning employee-plaintiff but instead the losing employer-defendant was ordered to educate his employees on discrimination laws and Tourette's. I like that.

 

[davew128]

I agree. What TS motions could possibly get someone banned from an entire set of McDonalds?

Not to mention ARRESTED. Yes, the DA dropped the case but with CONDITIONS. Last I checked, TS was not a mental health disease.

 

[Just Blue]

Not to mention ARRESTED. Yes, the DA dropped the case but with CONDITIONS. Last I checked, TS was not a mental health disease.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tourette-syndrome/basics/definition/con-20043570

 

[quincy]

Not to mention ARRESTED. Yes, the DA dropped the case but with CONDITIONS. Last I checked, TS was not a mental health disease.

The DA dropped the case with WHAT conditions?

davew128, you might want to read the information provided in Blue Meanie's link and in the link already provided earlier to information published by the Tourette Association of America. TS is a neurological disorder.

 

[davew128]

The DA dropped the case with WHAT conditions?

davew128, you might want to read the information provided in Blue Meanie's link and in the link already provided earlier to information published by the Tourette Association of America. TS is a neurological disorder.

Which is not the same as a mental health disorder, and by the way the Mayo Clinic not once classifies this as mental illness.

I have myasthenia gravis which is ALSO a neurological disorder. Pretty sure I never needed mental health treatment for it. While OP may be seeing a doctor for the psychological aspects of dealing with the disorder, in and of itself it is NOT a mental health disorder. I stand by the comment. There is something odd about a DA imposing mental health conditions to dismissing a case that would seemingly otherwise seem a simple matter to drop on its face given what we were told.

 

[justalayman]

The DA dropped the case with WHAT conditions?

davew128, you might want to read the information provided in Blue Meanie's link and in the link already provided earlier to information published by the Tourette Association of America. TS is a neurological disorder.

I think dave128's point is:

if a case is dropped with conditions, it isn't actually dismissed. It is an effective deferred adjudication.

The DA believed the evidence that I didn't do anything wrong, and told me that if I received behavioral lessons from my psychiatrist, he would drop the charge. I followed the DA's advice, and the charge was eventually dropped.

so basically, if politecitizen did not attend the behavioral lessons as directed by the DA, politecitizen would have been prosecuted.

If DA believed politecitizen didn't do anything wrong, he would have dismissed the charges. He didn't.

so the bigger question is: how can a court require a person, who the DA stated did nothing wrong, be required to attend behavioral modification lessons or be subject to prosecution of a crime, the DA admits did not occur?

 

[quincy]

Ah. Curious.

I guess I did not read that part of politecitizen's post very carefully. Thanks for pointing it out again to me, dave and justalayman.

That does seem to add another rather puzzling aspect to the whole matter.

According to politecitizen, however, he does have a psychiatrist and he saw this psychiatrist and the charges were subsequently dropped by the DA. The ban from McDonald's has also been lifted. All appears to have been resolved to the satisfaction of everyone.

I can't explain the DA's conditions of dismissal (or any of the DA's actions for that matter) or the fact that it only took a phone call to McDonald's to get a ban lifted without McDonald's requiring proof of some sort that the original ban was not warranted.

But politecitizen seems happy ... so I guess we should be happy.