McDonald's to Pay $700K in Dearborn Halal Meat Lawsuit

McDonald's and a local franchisee have agreed to pay a $700,000 settlement after a Dearborn Heights man sued the company over a Dearborn branch that allegedly served meats they falsely claimed were halal.

According to the Huffington Post, Ahmed Ahmed filed the lawsuit in 2011 against the McDonald's location at Ford Road and Oakman Boulevard after consuming a chicken sandwich there. He later found out that though the restaurant advertised the chicken as adhering to Islamic dietary guidelines known as halal, it actually wasn't.

Both this and the McDonald's on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn advertise selling halal products. They are the only two halal McDonald's restaurants in the United States. No other locations were named in the lawsuit.

Ahmed's attorney, Kassem Dakhlallah, told the Associated Press that the settlement will likely be split close to the following estimations: $275,000 to the Huda Clinic, $150,000 to the Arab American National Museum, $230,000 to attorneys and $20,000 to Ahmed.

AANM spokeswoman Kim Silarski tells Patch that the museum was not aware until just recently that they would receive any part of the settlement.

"We’re happy for any funding that furthers our mission to educate and eradicate stereotypes, and when/if it comes, this money will go toward educational and outreach efforts," she said.

In a strange twist, the fast food giant was in hot water in 2010 after it was revealed that many restaurants in the UK were serving halal chicken, unbeknownst to their customers.