“This lawsuit was a fraud and a hoax from the get-go,” David Yerushalmi, the law firm’s founder and senior counsel, said in a statement. The release said Urth Caffe, particularly its Laguna Beach location, is a popular gathering place for Muslim customers. In a news release about the settlement posted on its website Friday, the law center included a black-and-white photo of some of the Muslim plaintiffs with the word “FRAUD” printed over it in red letters. The cafe hired the American Freedom Law Center, which describes itself on its website as the country’s “first truly authentic Judeo-Christian, public-interest law firm.” In July 2016, Urth countersued the women, alleging that they had been trespassing. ![]() The women took to social media, posting video showing the police officers and empty tables throughout the restaurant. The group had been seated for about an hour and were having coffee and dessert when an employee told them they had to leave because they were violating the restaurant’s policy allowing a 45-minute stay during peak times, according to the ACLU of Southern California, which represented the plaintiffs along with the Pasadena law firm Hadsell Stormer & Renick.Īccompanied by the officers, the group “very respectfully left, having paid their bill,” Kravetz said. Six of the seven women, all of whom live in or were born in Orange County, wore head scarves. “We think the settlement reestablishes the obligations of restaurants and places of public accommodation to treat customers equally under the law.”Īccording to the women’s lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, they had gathered for dinner on a Friday night in April 2016 and sat at an outdoor patio table. “It has been a long time coming, but we’re very pleased with the settlement,” said Mohammad Tajsar, an American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California attorney representing the women. The seven women agreed to drop their lawsuit, and the coffee and tea chain agreed to drop a countersuit in which it accused the women of trespassing. The settlement, reached this week, comes after two years of litigation. ![]() Urth Caffe has agreed to hold diversity training for its employees under the terms of a settlement with a group of Muslim women who sued the chain for discrimination, alleging they were ousted from its Laguna Beach location for being “visibly Muslim.”
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