The McDonald’s franchisee discrimination lawsuit is an active federal case in which more than four dozen Black former operators accuse McDonald’s of steering them into low-volume, high-cost restaurants while denying them the financial support and growth opportunities offered to white franchisees. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois under the caption Manning v. McDonald’s USA, LLC, and it grew out of an earlier 2020 complaint filed by 52 Black former franchisees.1Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Crawford v. McDonald’s McDonald’s denies the allegations.
What the Franchisees Say McDonald’s Did
The complaint describes what plaintiffs call a “financial suicide mission.” McDonald’s, they allege, placed Black operators in economically depressed, high-crime neighborhoods with low sales volumes, then blocked them from acquiring restaurants in more affluent areas.2ABC News. Dozens of Black Franchisees Sue McDonald’s Alleging Systematic Racial Discrimination The stores they were assigned came with higher security costs, higher insurance premiums, and higher employee turnover, which the plaintiffs say ate into already thin margins.
A second layer of the case concerns McDonald’s modernization program known as “Bigger Bolder Vision 2020.” The initiative required renovations that could cost up to $750,000 per store, and Black franchisees say they were denied the financial assistance white operators received to cover those costs.3Loevy & Loevy. Manning et al. v. McDonald’s USA, LLC – Second Amended Complaint When operators tried to exit, the suit alleges, McDonald’s withheld consent for sales to the franchisees’ preferred buyers and pushed them to sell to white buyers at below-market prices.4Loevy & Loevy. McDonald’s Plaintiffs Boycott Statement
Individual plaintiffs added specific stories. Robert Bonner, who operated McDonald’s restaurants from 1990 to 2013, says regional management blocked him from acquiring or selling stores between 2005 and 2013 because of his race. The family of Sherman Claypool, who owned five Milwaukee locations, alleges years of discriminatory treatment, including the denial of financial assistance after security incidents.5Chicago Tribune. McDonald’s Discrimination Lawsuit Black Operators
The legal theory rests on Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which bars racial discrimination in contracts, along with state-law claims for breach of contract and fraudulent omission.1Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Crawford v. McDonald’s
The Numbers Behind the Case
The franchisees are seeking between $4 million and $5 million per store in compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages, covering roughly 200 locations they say were lost over the prior two decades.6Nation’s Restaurant News. Former McDonald’s Franchisees Seek Millions in Discrimination Suit
The complaint cites data from the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association showing that the annual cash-flow gap between Black and non-Black franchisees more than tripled between 2010 and 2019, reaching $65,706 per year.7Restaurant Business Online. Black McDonald’s Franchisees Say They Still Face Financial Inequality Stores owned by Black operators reportedly earned about two-thirds of the average McDonald’s location’s revenue. And the number of Black-owned McDonald’s franchises fell from 377 in 1998 to 186 by 2020, even as the company’s total U.S. store count more than doubled.5Chicago Tribune. McDonald’s Discrimination Lawsuit Black Operators
From Crawford to Manning
The original lawsuit was filed August 31, 2020, as Crawford v. McDonald’s (Case No. 1:20-cv-05132) with 52 named plaintiffs. An amended complaint added 25 more plaintiffs that November.1Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Crawford v. McDonald’s
In September 2022, Judge Steven C. Seeger granted McDonald’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint. During that day’s status hearing, a potential settlement figure was inadvertently disclosed and later sealed by the judge.1Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Crawford v. McDonald’s
The plaintiffs regrouped. A second amended complaint filed in December 2022 was refiled as Manning v. McDonald’s USA, LLC (Case No. 1:23-cv-00210) on January 13, 2023, before Judge Seeger. It named 48 Black former franchisees from more than a dozen states, represented by the Chicago civil rights firm Loevy & Loevy.3Loevy & Loevy. Manning et al. v. McDonald’s USA, LLC – Second Amended Complaint
Where the Case Stands Now
The Manning case has moved slowly. Early in 2023, the court ordered a joint project to fix the exit dates of each plaintiff from the McDonald’s system, a step needed to sort out which claims fell inside the statute of limitations. McDonald’s filed a motion to dismiss on March 31, 2023, with briefing wrapping up that July. An attorneys-only settlement conference in April 2023 ended without progress.8CourtListener. Manning v. McDonald’s USA, LLC
As of May 2026, the docket remains active with new filings still appearing.9CourtListener. Manning v. McDonald’s USA, LLC – Parties No trial date has been set in the file.
McDonald’s Response
McDonald’s has denied the allegations at every stage. When the original suit was filed, CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company disagreed with the claims and would “strongly defend” against them.6Nation’s Restaurant News. Former McDonald’s Franchisees Seek Millions in Discrimination Suit The company has more recently called the plaintiffs’ claims “a deliberate distortion of facts” and pointed to what it describes as a “steadfast commitment to the success of our Black franchisees.”5Chicago Tribune. McDonald’s Discrimination Lawsuit Black Operators
In 2020, the company announced a $250 million, five-year initiative to provide low-cost loans and reduce upfront equity requirements for franchise candidates from underrepresented communities.10Reuters. McDonald’s Offers Low-Cost Loans to Attract More Diverse Franchisees11NBC News. McDonald’s Boycott DEI Economic Blackout4Loevy & Loevy. McDonald’s Plaintiffs Boycott Statement
Related Cases That Aren’t the Manning Lawsuit
Several other discrimination cases against McDonald’s have made news and are easy to confuse with the franchisee group lawsuit. They are separate matters.
In December 2021, McDonald’s resolved two individual franchisee cases. Herb Washington, a former MLB player who was once the chain’s largest Black franchisee, agreed to sell his 13 remaining restaurants to McDonald’s for $33.5 million and exit the system. Days earlier, McDonald’s purchased four restaurants from brothers James and Darrell Byrd for $6.5 million to settle their claims. In both cases, McDonald’s said no court found the company had violated any laws.12CNBC. McDonald’s Settles Discrimination Lawsuit With Herb Washington
McPherson v. McDonald’s USA, LLC (Case No. 1:23-cv-02913) is a separate individual franchisee suit. On March 27, 2026, Judge Seeger granted in part and denied in part McDonald’s motion to dismiss. The court threw out “pattern-or-practice” claims under Sections 1981 and 1982, finding those claims are reserved for class actions or government enforcement. Many older allegations were dismissed as time-barred under the two-year or four-year statute of limitations for Section 1981 claims. Surviving claims include targeted allegations about recent inspections, rent-related decisions, franchise sales, and a narrow breach-of-contract theory tied to a “generally available” services provision in the franchise agreement.13Buchalter. McPherson v. McDonald’s USA, LLC: Court Narrows Franchise Discrimination Claims While Allowing Targeted Claims to Proceed That ruling is relevant to Manning because it signals how the same judge is likely to handle systemic and time-barred claims.
Two other lawsuits involve different plaintiffs entirely. Former McDonald’s senior executives Vicki Guster-Hines and Domineca Neal sued the company in January 2020 for corporate-level racial discrimination and hostile work environment. In March 2026, Judge Mary M. Rowland dismissed the primary race discrimination counts and dropped McDonald’s Corporation and CEO Chris Kempczinski as defendants, but allowed six claims to proceed against McDonald’s USA, including hostile work environment claims under Section 1981 and Title VII and two retaliation counts related to Neal’s termination. Trial is scheduled for September 2026.14Chicago Tribune. McDonald’s Race Discrimination Trial15Loevy & Loevy. McDonald’s Discrimination Case Will Go to Trial
Byron Allen’s media companies sued McDonald’s for $10 billion in 2021, alleging discrimination in television advertising spending against Black-owned media. That case settled in June 2025 on confidential terms, with McDonald’s admitting no wrongdoing.16Variety. Byron Allen Settlement Lawsuit McDonald’s TV Ads