McDonald’s and Michael A. Smith, co-founder and former CEO of StreetEasy, are embroiled in a $10 million legal dispute over Smith’s penthouse atop a Manhattan condominium. McDonald’s asserts that Smith’s 2007 expansion encroaches upon the rooftop space it reserved for HVAC equipment. Let’s look at all the messy details of this latest legal battle.
McDonald’s and StreetEasy’S Ex-CEO Have Been Going at It
The New York Post reports that according to the complaint McDonald’s filed just before Thanksgiving, Michael A. Smith, who sold the well-known real estate website to Zillow for $50 million in 2013, owns the penthouse apartment at 147 Reade Street in Tribeca, which has four outdoor decks and a swimming pool.
It was enlarged in 2007 and occupies around 3,700 square feet on top of the Tribeca, a five-story condominium complex constructed in 1987. It includes 303-307 Greenwich Street, 149 Reade Street, and 165 Chambers Street.
According to court records, McDonald’s asserts that it purchased four commercial buildings in 1990 and negotiated several easements, one of which permitted the business to erect a cooling tower on the rooftops of 147 and 149 Reade. Bloomberg initially published this information.
The business claims it occupied the area until 2006 when it swapped out the cooling tower for a new mechanism that eliminated the need to occupy roof space. The next year, the board granted Smith permission to enlarge the penthouse unit, which required demolishing the area of the easement that McDonald’s had claimed.
The lawsuit claims McDonald’s notified the board in 2021 that it was using its original easement. However, because a penthouse was constructed on top of the roof space, a consultant engineer informed the corporation that it was “no longer there.”
According to Smith, the board duly accepted the refurbishment plan in 2007, and the work was finished and visible by 2010. According to court documents, the fast-food giant wants the roof returned to its previous condition and requests damages of at least $10 million.
Not Its First Legal Battle
The battle royale with the former StreetEasy CEO isn’t the only legal issue facing the fast-food giant. Earlier this week, it was announced that a class action lawsuit is presently pending against McDonald’s, alleging that customers were charged an additional fee for purchasing orange juice with breakfast combinations.
A Santa Monica, California-based litigation firm called Top Class Actions is defending customers who claim that the fast-food juggernaut deceptively advertises its breakfast combos with images of orange juice for a set price but then charges customers more for the juice. The plaintiffs contend that by adding a “hidden” surcharge, this approach violates consumer protection rules and causes customers to incur unanticipated costs.
Customers are supposedly only informed of the additional expenses after paying and obtaining their receipts.
According to the lawsuit, McDonald’s uses misleading advertising to convince customers that orange juice is included in the advertised price. One of the claimants, Amber Meyers, asserts that she had been eating her usual breakfast combination, consisting of a Two Sausage Egg McMuffin meal with orange juice, for nearly a year without realizing the drink was being charged more.
“If I knew there was a surcharge for the orange juice, I wouldn’t have ordered it every time,” Meyers stated in the complaint.
Similar experiences are shared by other litigants across the country. According to Joshua Dini of Nevada and Travis Smith of Florida, the menu boards at McDonald’s deceived them into believing that orange juice was included in the quoted combo prices.
In order to make McDonald’s responsible for its pricing and advertising strategies, the lawsuit seeks damages for affected consumers as well as changes to the way the business presents its morning menu.
