Case #97L16266: AKINS v. McDONALD’S
Far-north-sider Roosevelt Akins sued the McDonald’s restaurants at 5614 N. Clark and 5130 N. Sheridan for allegedly slow service. Akins claims he waited 15 minutes to order a cup of coffee at the Sheridan location on November 9, 1997. When he protested, the cashier said she hadn’t seen him and the manager hid behind an oven. Akins complains of similar treatment a month later at the Clark restaurant. The suit was dismissed.
Damages sought: $32,000
Case #98L64: AKINS v. P & G PROPERTIES
Akins is also suing his landlord for allegedly failing to stop harassment from his neighbors downstairs, who object to the noise from Akins’s two small children. Akins says there is “pounding on the ceiling whenever our kids run or walk across the floor…pounding on the front door and yelling to us to make our children sit down.”
Damages sought: free rent until he can find another apartment.
Case #98L601: AKINS v. ILLINOIS STATE LOTTERY
And Akins is suing the Illinois State Lottery. Akins says there were no jackpot winners for three months before the lottery switched to the new method of awarding the prize money all at once. According to his suit, “This is highly suspicious and very unusual. Something’s very funny here….With these new revisions, I am convinced that the defendant is counting on a grand prize not being awarded for another three months…thus… cheating and defrauding myself and the public.”
Damages sought: $250,000
Case #98L464: AKINS v. LORD & TAYLOR
Akins is also suing Lord & Taylor because a cotton flannel shirt he bought there allegedly caught on fire after he reached over a stove to turn on a burner. Akins says he suffered “minor burns and skin discomfort to the left arm, shoulder and upper neck area” in the January 13 incident. He claims the shirt “is extremely flammable when around open flames, although the flames are easily extinguished.”
Damages sought: unspecified.
Case #97L14694: AKINS v. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY
Last November Akins took on the CTA, according to his suit, “because I am fed up with the poor treatment and service by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). The bus drivers and…subway conductors are constantly rude, they drive like maniacs by rocking the buses back and forth, and taking off fast after passengers board, thus thrusting them through the aisles and throwing them up against handrails and other passengers.” The itemized complaints include a “long stare and dirty look” from a bus driver. The suit was dismissed.
Damages sought: unspecified.
Case #98L463: AKINS v. CTA
In another suit against the CTA, Akins claims a drunk harassed him on a bus: “The gentleman staggered over to where I was seated, fell on top of me and finally flopped himself down on the seat next to me…pinning me very tightly against the wall, so tightly that I could not move my arms.” When Akins asked him to move so Akins could change seats, the drunk “elbowed me in the left rib cage and shouted, ‘I don’t play that shit.'”
Damages sought: unspecified.