DEARBORN — The McDonald’s non-halal lawsuit took another turn this week after Judge Macdonald of the Wayne County Circuit Court extended the settlement notice period for an additional 28 days, allowing other class members more time to review the settlement before its expected final approval.

The lawsuit stems from Dearborn Heights resident Ahmed Ahmed’s purchasing of a McDonald’s meal from Dearborn’s Ford Rd. location, owned by Finley’s Management Company, which advertises the selling of halal chicken. Ahmed alleged the sandwich he had purchased was non-halal despite being advertised as so.

Three attorneys from the Dearborn firm Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group, P.C. represented the class plaintiffs in the case, ultimately settling for $700,000 from the corporation. That money would be divided amongst the plaintiffs and also be donated to the HUDA clinic in Detroit and the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn.

Additionally, Judge Macdonald lifted a gag order against Dearborn Attorney Majed Moughni, who in February spoke out against the non-halal settlement by riling up support on his Facebook page, Dearborn Area Community Members. Judge Macdonald had originally deemed that Moughni was spreading false information to the masses by leading people to believe that they could intervene into the settlement by pressing the ‘like’ button on his post. She ordered him from further commenting on the case in public, and requested that he remove the post on his Facebook page.

But Judge Macdonald’s gag on Moughni did not sit well with some advocacy groups. Public Citizens Litigation Group of Washington D.C and The American Civil Liberties Union both concurred that Moughni’s freedom of rights speech were violated, and spoke out against Judge Macdonald’s decision to the media.

Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group had originally agreed to the gag order, believing it was not a first amendment issue. 

“It’s one thing to take a stand in opposition in a current lawsuit, but it’s another thing to take a stand as an attorney with a misleading, false deceptive approach in order to improperly influence people’s understanding in an on-going case. It’s not a violation of the first amendment to stop an attorney from deceiving the public regarding an ongoing case. We argued this when we first filed the injunction and the court agreed with us,” Kassem Dakhlallah, an attorney from the firm said. 

McDonald’s located on Ford Rd. in Dearborn.

Paul Levy, a representative from Public Citizen says the reason why the group decided to back Moughni is because they are familiar with class action suits, and people who speak out against them tend to get bullied.

“He was acting as a public spirited lawyer. Whatever you think about his opinions, those are still his rights and this is what we want lawyers to do. I think he’s really acted as a hero in this case and he’s been made to pay a high price for it which really isn’t good. There is a perception that he was soliciting clients for this case, but he wasn’t doing that because he wasn’t looking to get paid by these clients. He saw what he believes was a bad situation for his community and he spoke up and offered others to speak up,” Levy told The Arab American News.

McDonald’s Corp. also asked Judge Macdonald to lift the conjunction she had originally placed on Moughni. The company also filed a motion last week asking the judge to extend the public comment period for an additional 28 days. Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group also filed a motion to allow an additional 28 days, in order to avoid any delays the case could’ve taken regarding Moughni’s first amendment rights. The law firm says they did not want the case to get tied up in the court system for as long as five years because of a first amendment issue.  

But Moughni’s public dissatisfaction towards the settlement isn’t the only bump in the road for this case. Attorney Steve T. Kiousis of Stephen Kiousis & Associates in Troy is also representing as many as 35 clients who are looking to be a part of the settlement, aiming to have the judge compensate each individual as opposed to compensating the entire class. But Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group still stand by the original settlement agreement, which is now in the preliminary stages of approval and is expected to be finalized on April 8.

“People have the right to intervene or opt out. A circus show was created and we simply didn’t want that, so we re-opened the notice period to finally close this case out. I’m confident nothing more will come of it. We are happy about one thing above all,  that our community can send a message to the corporate world  that our beliefs need to be respected by corporate America. We feel this is the largest class action settlement of its kind, and the funds are going to be used to do a lot of good for this community and the surrounding communities,” Mike Jaafar of Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group said.

The original public notice, which was distributed to 17 mosques in Michigan and posted in the Arab American News for three consecutive weeks beginning in late January, has been revised to update the public regarding their rights on the case. The revised notice is expected to run in the newspaper beginning next week, for three more consecutive weeks. 

As far as people who will want to opt out of the settlement or pursue actions on their own, the law firm believes that factor will not delay the settlement agreement after the 28 days are over. They believe it will be nearly impossible for anyone to prove that they purchased a non-halal sandwich from the McDonald’s on Ford Rd., because their findings show that the majority of the time, the location was serving halal products, except on a few rare occasions. Because of these findings, the attorneys decided the best route to take would be to seek a benefit on behalf of the whole class.  

The law firm says the majority of the organizations in the community have backed their stance after meeting with them and discussing the facts of the case. They are open to answering more questions and hope to clarify any misleading information. They say their goal for the settlement was to benefit the entire class as opposed to benefiting a couple of individuals.

“We are very happy with the extension, because at the end of the period we at least know we are going to get finality. Ahmed has not been paid anything from this case, and it’s no way a guarantee if he will get paid. It’s up to the court to decide that. If he does get any money, it’s not going to be for his damages, It’s going to be compensation for the year and a half that he has spent working with us to move this case forward. We all are Muslims, we went to high school and elementary school in Dearborn, so this is our community. We always have the best interest of this community at heart,” Dakhlallah said. 

For more information on the settlement agreement, visit www.jaafarandmahdi.com