Halal error costs Macca's $676,000

McDonald's is set to pay out $676,000 after a Detroit restaurant allegedly claimed its food was halal. Picture: Luke Marsden Source: News Limited

A JUDGE on Wednesday finalised a US$700,000 ($676,000) settlement between McDonald's Corp. and members of Michigan's Muslim community over claims a suburban Detroit restaurant falsely advertised its food as prepared according to Islamic law.

Ahmed Ahmed, the Dearborn Heights man who represents plaintiffs in the class-action suit, claims he bought a chicken sandwich in September 2011 at the restaurant but found it wasn't halal. Islam forbids consumption of pork, and God's name must be invoked before an animal providing meat for consumption is slaughtered.

The McDonald's restaurant chain and one of its franchise owners agreed in January to the tentative settlement that would be shared by Mr Ahmed, as well as a Muslim-run Detroit health clinic, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn and lawyers.

The two sides met Wednesday for final approval before Wayne County Circuit Judge Kathleen Macdonald, who has overseen the case and refereed objections by outside groups since a preliminary deal was announced in January.

The settlement was originally set to be finalised March 1, but Macdonald extended the public comment period after pressure from Dearborn lawyer Majed Moughni, who criticised the class-action settlement on Facebook and was temporarily barred from communicating publicly about the case.

Mr Ahmed's portion of the settlement is considered an "incentive award" and represents his work on the case, his attorneys say.

"As a firm, we've borne the burden of litigating this case for over 19 months, and have paid a steep price in time and money to do so," Kassem Dakhlallah, an attorney whose firm represents Mr Ahmed and the class, told The Associated Press in an email. "We are happy that we are able to finalise this case and get the settlement funds paid to the Huda Clinic to be used for medical care for the community, and to the Arab American National Museum to be used to allow our young ones to continue their educations after high school."

Ms Macdonald said she was "proud to preside over" the long case and resolution reached by both sides.

The lawsuit technically covered anyone who bought the halal-advertised products between September 2005 and January from the restaurant and another McDonald's in the city with a different owner. The other location wasn't a defendant or a focus of the investigation.

Mr Dakhlallah has said he was approached by Mr Ahmed, and they conducted an investigation. A letter sent to McDonald's and the restaurant franchisee, Finley's Management, by Mr Dakhlallah's firm said Mr Ahmed had "confirmed from a source familiar with the inventory" that the restaurant had sold non-halal food "on many occasions."

In the settlement notice, Finley's Management said it "has a carefully designed system for preparing and serving halal such that halal chicken products are labeled, stored, refrigerated, and cooked in halal-only areas." The company added it trains its employees on preparing halal food and "requires strict adherence to the process."

McDonald's attorney Thomas McNeill said the investigations and negotiations proved that if a problem arose, "it was isolated and rare."

Mr Dakhlallah said giving money to the charities is the best outcome, since most people wouldn't have kept their receipts, making "identifying class members who have valid claims nearly impossible."

Mr Moughni argues that Mr Dakhlallah and his colleagues could have made greater attempts to find those who were harmed and, failing that, identified more relevant organisations, such as Dearborn's public schools. He said the clinic is several miles away from the restaurant and the museum has nothing to do with halal food.

Macdonald disagreed, calling the charities "appropriate recipients," but Mr Moughni said he's considering an appeal.

"We think it's wrong," he said. "It's unfair for the class members."

There are only two McDonald's in the United States that sell halal products and both are in Dearborn, which has one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim communities. Overall, the Detroit area is home to about 150,000 Muslims of many ethnicities.
 

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Halal error costs Macca's $676,000

McDonald's is set to pay out $676,000 after a Detroit restaurant allegedly claimed its food was halal. Picture: Luke Marsden Source: News Limited

A JUDGE on Wednesday finalised a US$700,000 ($676,000) settlement between McDonald's Corp. and members of Michigan's Muslim community over claims a suburban Detroit restaurant falsely advertised its food as prepared according to Islamic law.

Ahmed Ahmed, the Dearborn Heights man who represents plaintiffs in the class-action suit, claims he bought a chicken sandwich in September 2011 at the restaurant but found it wasn't halal. Islam forbids consumption of pork, and God's name must be invoked before an animal providing meat for consumption is slaughtered.

The McDonald's restaurant chain and one of its franchise owners agreed in January to the tentative settlement that would be shared by Mr Ahmed, as well as a Muslim-run Detroit health clinic, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn and lawyers.

The two sides met Wednesday for final approval before Wayne County Circuit Judge Kathleen Macdonald, who has overseen the case and refereed objections by outside groups since a preliminary deal was announced in January.

The settlement was originally set to be finalised March 1, but Macdonald extended the public comment period after pressure from Dearborn lawyer Majed Moughni, who criticised the class-action settlement on Facebook and was temporarily barred from communicating publicly about the case.

Mr Ahmed's portion of the settlement is considered an "incentive award" and represents his work on the case, his attorneys say.

"As a firm, we've borne the burden of litigating this case for over 19 months, and have paid a steep price in time and money to do so," Kassem Dakhlallah, an attorney whose firm represents Mr Ahmed and the class, told The Associated Press in an email. "We are happy that we are able to finalise this case and get the settlement funds paid to the Huda Clinic to be used for medical care for the community, and to the Arab American National Museum to be used to allow our young ones to continue their educations after high school."

Ms Macdonald said she was "proud to preside over" the long case and resolution reached by both sides.

The lawsuit technically covered anyone who bought the halal-advertised products between September 2005 and January from the restaurant and another McDonald's in the city with a different owner. The other location wasn't a defendant or a focus of the investigation.

Mr Dakhlallah has said he was approached by Mr Ahmed, and they conducted an investigation. A letter sent to McDonald's and the restaurant franchisee, Finley's Management, by Mr Dakhlallah's firm said Mr Ahmed had "confirmed from a source familiar with the inventory" that the restaurant had sold non-halal food "on many occasions."

In the settlement notice, Finley's Management said it "has a carefully designed system for preparing and serving halal such that halal chicken products are labeled, stored, refrigerated, and cooked in halal-only areas." The company added it trains its employees on preparing halal food and "requires strict adherence to the process."

McDonald's attorney Thomas McNeill said the investigations and negotiations proved that if a problem arose, "it was isolated and rare."

Mr Dakhlallah said giving money to the charities is the best outcome, since most people wouldn't have kept their receipts, making "identifying class members who have valid claims nearly impossible."

Mr Moughni argues that Mr Dakhlallah and his colleagues could have made greater attempts to find those who were harmed and, failing that, identified more relevant organisations, such as Dearborn's public schools. He said the clinic is several miles away from the restaurant and the museum has nothing to do with halal food.

Macdonald disagreed, calling the charities "appropriate recipients," but Mr Moughni said he's considering an appeal.

"We think it's wrong," he said. "It's unfair for the class members."

There are only two McDonald's in the United States that sell halal products and both are in Dearborn, which has one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim communities. Overall, the Detroit area is home to about 150,000 Muslims of many ethnicities.
 

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Centrelink error gave mum $2m

A Sunshine Coast mother of three has been jailed over a Centrelink bungle.It overpaid Judy Lorbek by nearly two million dollars

JAIL TERM: Judy Lorbek went on a spending spree after a $2million Centrelink error. Source: The Courier-Mail

A CASH-STRAPPED mum was given two million reasons to think all her money woes were over when Centrelink mistakenly deposited a seven-figure sum into her bank account.

The Brisbane District Court was yesterday told Sunshine Coast mother-of-three Judy Lorbek, then 46, had asked the Federal Government's Child Support Agency (CSA) for an emergency payment of $2959.12 to help take care of kids on February 2 last year.

The payment was granted, but when Lorbek went to access the funds four days later she could not believe her luck when she accessed her account and discovered the $2,022,012 payment.

The court was told although the agency approved Lorbek's payment of almost $3000, a public servant had incorrectly typed in the day's date - 02/02/2012 - in the section of a computer form where the payment was to have been entered.

The court was told Lorbek did not think twice about an error having been made by the CSA and went on an immediate spending spree.

Commonwealth prosecutor Aimee Aisthorpe said Lorbek did not contact the CAS to check if a mistake had been made and simply transferred all of the money to separate accounts on the day she received the $2,022,012 payment.

Ms Aisthorpe said in the space of a month Lorbek had paid off the mortgage on her own home, organised extensive renovations, signed a contract on a new house in New South Wales and established trust funds for each of her three kids.

The court was told over the course of 280 financial transactions Lorbek withdrew a total of $120,000 in cash, spent $30,000 via EFTPOS and $10,000 on gambling at RSLs.

Lorbek also lavished herself and her children with expensive stays at resorts and upmarket hotels and gifts - including beauty treatments, clothes and fashion accessories and outings to movies and licensed clubs.

Lorbek, now 47, was jailed for six years yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of theft at Nambour, on the Sunshine Coast, on February 6 last year.

She will be eligible for parole after serving 18 months in jail and will have to pay more than $430,000 in reparations upon her release.

Judge Gary Long, in sentencing Lorbek, said: "The temptation for you to do this might have been great ... (but) no other sentence other than imprisonment is appropriate. The enormity of what you did was self evident. You acted quickly, if not immediately, to transfer the funds (incorrectly paid to you)."

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