Jury deliberates McDonald’s strip-search case

updated 8:12 p.m. ET Oct. 4, 2007

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. - A jury deliberated Thursday in the case of woman who said she was forced to strip in a McDonald's back office at the behest of a caller posing as a police officer.

Louise Ogborn, 21, is suing the fast-food giant, accusing it of failing to warn her and other employees about the hoaxer, who had already struck other McDonald's stores and other fast-food restaurants across the country.

Ogborn is seeking $200 million in compensatory and punitive damages. McDonald's has said Ogborn is responsible for whatever damages she suffered for not realizing it was a hoax. After a four-week trial, the jury deliberated without reaching a verdict the first day and planned to return on Friday.

After about two hours of deliberations, jurors asked to review some of the evidence.

Judge Thomas McDonald said he would allow jurors to see a copy of the employee handbook that Ogborn signed but denied requests to review a map showing the locations where other hoax calls were received and a timeline of events.

The jury forewoman also told the judge that one juror wanted to see a clip of the security video taken of the strip search. McDonald directed jurors to review other evidence first but said if there were still questions, he would allow the jury to view the video clip.

Ogborn was 18 and working at a McDonald's in April 2004 when she was forced to strip after a man called the store, claiming he was investigating a theft. At one point during the 3 1/2-hour search, the assistant manager's boyfriend was left to handle the phone call.

Donna Jean Summers, the assistant manager, was convicted of unlawful imprisonment. Her former fiancée, Walter Nix Jr., is serving a 5-year sentence for sexual abuse and other crimes.

Summers and Kim Dockery, who also was an assistant manager at the restaurant, are named as defendants in Ogborn's civil suit. Summers also has sued McDonald's and is asking the jury to award her $50 million.

A Florida man, David Stewart, was charged with making the hoax phone call but was acquitted last summer. Police have said the calls stopped after Stewart's arrest.

Video shows sex acts
During the trial, jurors watched more than an hour of a security video of the hoax call. On the video, a nude Ogborn is shown performing sex acts on herself and Nix.

Ogborn's attorney, Ann Oldfather, asked Ogborn why she simply didn't leave the manager's office at some point during the assault, particularly when she was left alone.

"I was scared, and I was petrified," Ogborn said. "I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know if this was my last day on Earth."

During closing arguments on Wednesday, McDonald's attorney, W.R. "Pat" Patterson, said McDonald's is a good corporate citizen that cannot be held responsible for mistakes made by employees.

"McDonald's is not the evil empire they'll make it out to be," Patterson said. "It should not be punished by giving them millions of dollars."

Summers' attorney, Glenn Cohen, said McDonald's made multiple mistakes in not sufficiently warning managers and said the restaurant chain's claim that it couldn't tell all 800,000 employees about the hoax isn't believable.

"They get the word out when there is a McRib special," Cohen said. "They get the word out on how to detect a counterfeit bill. They certainly can get the word out on that."

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