White Castle claims to be the first fast-food hamburger chain, the first to sell a million hamburgers, the first to sell a billion hamburgers and the first to sell frozen fast-food. Now, it can add to its list of firsts one more:  the first to be sued by a customer because its booths aren't big enough.

Martin Kessman of New York filed a lawsuit against White Castle claiming that the fast-food chain repeatedly broke promises to make the booths in his local eatery bigger.  In his federal lawsuit, 290-pound Kessman claims the uncomfortable booths violate the civil rights of fat people.

“They’re stationary booths,” he told a reporter.  “I’m not humongous, [but] I’m a big guy. I could not wedge myself in. ...They sent me specs and everything, about how the booths were going to be enlarged and made comfortable for people with a little more weight. So two and a half years went by, and nothing was done."

Kessman is suing for bigger chairs and unspecified damages.  The Americans with Disabilities Act is "applicable -- not only to me, but to pregnant women and to handicapped people," according to Kessman. "I just want to sit down like a normal person."

According to the lawsuit, White Castle replied with three “very condescending letters” -- and an offer that added insult to injury:  Each letter contained a coupon for three free hamburgers, but the cheese was extra. 

“My wife went and picked up the burgers ... because I did not want to set foot into the store,” Kessman said. “Any subsequent trips to the store have been made by my wife -- I have been like an outcast.”

—Source:  NYPost.com