LOS ANGELES (CNS) - McDonald's Corp. and two franchise holders have been sued stemming from the death of a woman at the hands of a vagrant while she and her husband were getting food at a drive-through window at a Boyle Heights location in 2024.
Named as co-defendants in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought by Jose Juan Rangel are R&B Sanchez and DRS Hospitality LLC, identified as past and present owners of the North Soto Street restaurant. The complaint's allegations include wrongful death, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and seeks unspecified general and compensatory damages.
"Defendants had the means and responsibility to prevent this tragedy, but this business location is notorious in the community for ignoring the safety of its paying customers," the suit states.
Reasonable action by the defendants would have prevented the physical assault on plaintiff and the death of his wife, the suit contends.
A McDonald's representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Thursday.
According to the suit, vagrant Charles Cornelius Green Jr. had a history of loitering outside the restaurant and began asking for money from drive-through customers on March 9, 2024, when Rangel and his spouse, Maria Vargas Luna, visited the location.
Restaurant employees saw Green on the live security camera feeds and via the drive-through window and did not do anything about it even though they knew the ongoing vagrant problem created a likely risk of a confrontation, according to the suit.
At one point Green walked up to the couple's car and hit Rangel repeatedly in the face, but the McDonald's workers did not call 911 or take any appropriate action, the suit further alleges. Green then went to the passenger side where Luna was seated and tried to attack her, but Rangel intervened and forced Green to the pavement, the suit states.
Luna got out of the car and tried to help her husband, but Green pushed her to the pavement and she suffered severe head trauma that started cardiac problems and left her with permanent brain damage, the suit states.
McDonald's employees still did not call the police, according to the suit, which further states that Luna was hospitalized on life support for several months until she died.
From January 2020 to March 2024, the LAPD responded to about 130 calls at the Soto Street restaurant that included assault, battery, robbery, vandalism, trespass, narcotics activity, public intoxication and weapons- related threats, the suit states.
"Numerous online reviews and public complaints identified unsafe conditions at this specific restaurant location," the suit states. "These customer reports and reviews provided defendants with additional notice of the dangers posed by loitering individuals."
Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.
