Bitkower v. Starbucks excerpts... [Incident #3] December 2012 Discrimination Incident 42. The next monthly gathering of “Deaf Chat Coffee” occurred on December 6, 2012 at the Starbucks Store located at 13-25 Astor Place, New York, New York 10003 as the November 1, 2012 gathering was cancelled due to the weather of Superstorm Sandy. 43. Plaintiffs Miu Ng, Elvira Janturina, Lawrence Bitkower, Ibrahim Ali, Veronica Bitkower, Charles Kaufman, Jacqueline Kaufman, Evan Dach, and Sean Finnerty along with other Deaf individuals attended the “Deaf Chat Coffee” gathering. 44. At approximately 9:00 pm, four hours before the posted closing time, a total of four Starbucks employees told the “Deaf Chat Coffee” group that they had to leave the area they were occupying as it was going to be cleaned. 45. Once the “Deaf Chat Coffee” group moved, the Starbucks employees proceeded to allow non-deaf customers into that area and did not clean the area. 46. At approximately 9:00 pm, Plaintiff Sean Finnerty (“Mr. Finnerty”), waited in line and proceeded to try to place an order with a Starbucks employee by handing his written order on a piece of paper to the Starbucks employee. 47. The Starbucks employee refused to serve Mr. Finnerty. 48. Confused, Mr. Finnerty demanded to know why he was not being served. 49. The Starbucks employee informed Mr. Finnerty via writing that Starbucks was not serving Deaf individuals. 50. Shocked, humiliated and disgusted, Mr. Finnerty reported what had happened to other Deaf individuals of the “Deaf Chat Coffee” and the manager “Ziyad.” 51. Plaintiffs Elvira Janturina and Miu Ng along with their two other friends who are Deaf attempted to place an order with the Starbucks employee and were also refused service because they are Deaf. 52. Additional requests for service were made by Plaintiffs Elvira Janturina and Miu Ng and were refused by the Starbucks employee as the employee continued to serve other non-deaf customers. 53. Finally, Plaintiff Elvira Janturina had to beg a non-deaf stranger to order for her and her Deaf friends in order to receive service. 54. Plaintiffs Lawrence Bitkower, Charles Kaufman, and Evan Dach spoke to Starbucks employee “Ziyad” about their disgust about how the Deaf were being treated by Starbucks. “Ziyad” rejected their concerns and told them that “Ziyad’s” manager told him to not serve Deaf individuals. 55. Plaintiffs Miu Ng, Elvira Janturina, Lawrence Bitkower, Veronica Bitkower, Charles Kaufman, Jacqueline Kaufman, Ibrahim Ali, Evan Dach, and Sean Finnerty were discriminated against, humiliated, retaliated against for their opposition to such discriminatory practices, and were treated like non-persons as they were denied equal services and privileges as afforded to non-deaf individuals.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 08:25:25 +0000
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