The suit does not say that restaurant chains charge more or less money when you “have it your way,” such as asking for an extra squirt of “special sauce” on a McDonald’s Big Mac.
For instance, buy a turkey sub at Subway and you pay the same whether you ask for it fully loaded or just plain meat and bread.
United States District Court/Southern District of Florida
Nevertheless, the suit claims “McDonald’s is being unjustly enriched by these practices because it receives payment for cheese it does not deliver to its customers.”
For the record, McDonald’s lists the following ingredients on its Quarter Pounder with Cheese: a quarter-pound beef patty, sesame seed bun, pasteurized process American cheese, ketchup, pickle slices and onions. Prices are about $4.19 for the single and $6.19 for the double.
The lawsuit cites trademarks of the ingredient components of McDonald’s signature sandwiches, like the Big Mac — we all remember the commercial jingle that sang, “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.” The suit claims “the price of a Big Mac includes a charge for the cheese that is included as a component of the product.”
While that may be so, there was never a price break if you asked the counter person to alter the jingle and leave off one of the Big Mac’s components.
Lavin explains that the Big Mac was trademarked as containing all of those ingredients.
“If someone wants a Big Mac and if they want any component withheld they are not entitled to a credit against the purchase price,” he said.
But for the Quarter Pounder, “a product that was sold for years and trademarked as a Quarter Pounder and is affirmed by a separate product ‘with cheese,’ is an acknowledgment that something is added to the base product,” Lavin said. “Which is why they should not have to be compelled to pay for cheese when they don’t want it, especially when they do offer it in other means.”
McDonald’s hasn’t responded to the suit and has 21 days to do so.
“If and when this is certified as a class action then notice will be given to everyone who qualifies as a class member,” Lavin said.
If this process is triggered through a certification after McDonald’s responds to the suit, people would be able to submit paperwork to the courts to notify of their interest in participating in a class action suit, said Lavin.
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