Burger King Spitting Suit Settled Between Black Driver & White Fast Food Employee
A lawsuit between a black truck driver and a Burger King employee ended in a settlement on Friday.
Glenn Goodwin accused a worker at the fast food establishment of spitting in his hamburger in November 2008 because of a racial bias.
The incident occurred at a Burger King in Fairview, Penn. where the Cleveland truck driver ordered a Whopper Jr. The suit alleged that the white employee spit in Goodwin's burger and that the restaurant manager tried to block the driver from seeing the worker commit the act, according to The Erie Times-News.
Goodwin took the burger back to his truck and bit into it only to find that something was wrong. The burger had a "disgusting" smell and appeared to be "extra wet," so the driver walked back into the restaurant to complain.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed to the public, however, Goodwin's attorney, Timothy McNair, wrote in an email to The Associated Press that "the case is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties."
The defendants in the case originally tried to get the lawsuit thrown out of court on the grounds that there was no proof. A federal judge refused the defendants' request and allowed the prosecution to present the case as a racially motivated criminal act.
While Goodwin said that he did not hear any racial remarks from the employees, he told the judge that he was the only black customer that was present at the time of the incident.
According to court documents, police conducted a test on the burger and identified saliva on the outside and inside of Goodwin's burger, according to court documents. However, police threw the evidence away before DNA testing could determine exactly who the saliva belonged to.
