DETROIT — On Wednesday morning, Judge Kathleen Macdonald of the Wayne County Circuit Court approved the $700,000 non-halal meat class action lawsuit settlement against McDonald’s Corporation and Finley’s Management Company, the franchisee of McDonald’s store number 11663 located at 13158 Ford Rd. in Dearborn. 

The plaintiffs, Ahmed Ahmed and his representation, Dearborn law firm Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group, P.C., who also represented the whole class, sought damages  for the alleged possible selling of non-halal meat at the Dearborn location. 

$274,000 of that settlement total will be donated to the HUDA clinic in Detroit, which provides services to locals with no health insurance despite their religion or race. $150,000 will also be dispensed to the Arab American National Museum (AANM) in Dearborn which will be used for educational purposes.

 Additionally, $20,000 will be awarded to plaintiff Ahmad Ahmad, the complainant on the case, who originally made the allegations against the restaurant. The court agreed that his compensation was not for damages, but rather for the time he committed in helping to move the case forward.

The remaining $254,000 will go towards the plaintiff attorneys on the case, who spent hundreds of hours over a 19-month period assessing and verifying details surrounding the case, as well as consulting with numerous parties in order to determine the best possible settlement agreement that would benefit the entire class. The lawyers were also responsible for looking at dozens of organizations in surrounding areas to determine which ones could use a donation that would serve as a great beknit to the entire class. 

The McDonald’s non-halal meat lawsuit had gone through twists and turns in the last couple of months. Misinformation regarding the case caused Judge Macdonald to extend the public notice period for the settlement, which was originally set for February. Dearborn Attorney Marje Moughni, who had publicly disapproved of the settlement, rallied Facebook users on the Dearborn Area Community Members Page, urging them to sign forms if they wanted to intervene into the settlement.

After much public confusion and heavy media coverage, all parties involved agreed to add some modifications to the public notice and extend the public comment period for an additional three weeks.

When the second public notice period had ended on April 8, there were 31 additional documents filed from parties who were looking for alternative options outside of the settlement. In total, the two public notice periods brought along 64 objections against the settlement, 16 parties who were looking to “opt out” of the settlement, and 140 requests to intervene, most of which came from Moughni’s Facebook page. 

According to Kassem Dakhlallah of Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group, P.C., people who filed objections against the settlement cited various reasons for doing so. Some suggested that the settlement money should benefit non-Muslims as well, while others objected to the HUDA clinic or the AANM as the choice of donations. Some even objected to a class action settlement as a whole, wanting to be personally compensated instead.

But the lawyers on both sides, along with Judge Macdonald, agreed that no plausible alternative options was provided by any of the objectors. Personal compensation for each individual would’ve been a difficult route to take because the compensation amount would be minuscule, and each party would have to present evidence that they had purchased non-halal chicken from the location, a rather impossible task.

Additionally, some of the objections filed were against dispensing money to the HUDA clinic or the AANM , but those objectors failed to provide names of alternative places that they would’ve liked to see donations made to instead.  

Judge Macdonald stated that she felt comfortable in approving the details of the final settlement because it was the best route to take. She also ended the hearing on a positive note. “For the record, I just wanted to say, I am very proud  to have presided over this case,” Macdonald said.  

After the hearing, Dakhlallah stated that he was very satisfied with the Judge’s decision to approve the settlement, and he hopes it sends a message to corporate America.

“We are very happy that this case was given final approval. We think this was a huge victory for our community and we hope the case is a lesson to corporations who do business in our community. While we welcome and embrace them, when it comes to the issue of halal, the rules need to be respected,” Dakhlallah stated.