McDonald's settles US suit over Islamic diet, to pay $700,000

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

After they received no response to the letter, Daklallah said, they filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court in November 2011 as part of a class action.

The AP left messages Monday afternoon for attorneys representing the corporation and the franchise.

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.''

He said although Ahmed believes McDonald's was negligent, there was no evidence that the chain set out to deceive customers.

“McDonald's from the very beginning stepped up and took this case very seriously,'' Daklallah said. “They made it clear they wanted to resolve this. They got ahead of the problem.''

The lawsuit covers anyone who bought the halal-advertised products from the Ford Road restaurant and another Dearborn McDonald's with a different owner between September 2005 and last Friday. Since that would be impossible to determine, Daklallah said both sides agreed to provide money to community-based charities that benefit members of this group.

The other location on Michigan Avenue wasn't a defendant or a focus

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