Context & Timeline
- 2023: McDonald’s files federal lawsuit claiming Homeland Insurance wrongfully denied coverage to franchisee Lofton & Lofton Management Inc.
- Original state court case: Former employee Sonia Acuña sues over alleged exposure to regular workplace violence
- Policy period issues: McDonald’s conceded some violent incidents occurred outside coverage window
- Wednesday, 2024: Judge Hunt issues summary judgment favoring Homeland Insurance
Evidence, Records, and What We Can Prove
According to court documents in McDonald’s Corp. et al. v. Homeland Insurance Co. of New York et al., case number 1:23-cv-16297, Acuña’s underlying Illinois state court complaint details a pattern of workplace violence exposure.
The insurance policy at issue defines “bodily injury” as “bodily injury, sickness or disease sustained by a person, including death resulting from any of these at any time.” Judge Hunt’s Wednesday order emphasized that Illinois courts consistently interpret identical language to require “actual physical injury.”
McDonald’s argued that Acuña suffered both “physical and psychological harm and fear” from regular exposure to violent customer behavior, including witnessing customers “throwing coffee at workers.” The company contended this witnessing of others’ bodily injuries causing emotional distress should qualify under the policy.
Judge Hunt rejected this reasoning: “The gist of Acuna’s claims is that witnessing bodily injury inflicted on others resulted in psychological harm to her. No doubt, extended violence and trauma can produce strong reactions in a physical body. Even so… there is ample precedent under Illinois law rejecting the contention that ‘actual physical injury’ can be construed so broadly as to encompass what are essentially emotional injuries.”
