MWW is suing McDonald's New York Tri-State Owner/Operators Assn. for $5.2M fees for the alleged bad faith Oct. 1 termination of their 17-year relationship.
Filed Oct. 16 in Bergen County (New Jersey) Superior Court, the PR firm claims McDonald's wrongly cut ties due to its work for an unnamed "casual dining restaurant."
It says McDonald's demanded in September that it choose either it or the other restaurant as a client.
MWW's complaint says it tried to ease McDonald's concern, offering to base staff at the other account in a different office or at a new company.
According to MWW, McDonald's has historically allowed vendors to accommodate competitors in such fashion, but it refused to budge on its ultimatum to the East Rutherford, NJ-based firm.
To MWW, McDonald's acted "arbitrarily and selectively" and operated in an illegitimate manner by retaliating against it for developing ties with a client that would not affect its ability to deliver world-class service to the fast-feeder.
More than 600 McDonald's franchises in the New York City metropolitan area belong to the association.
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