Revenge-porn suit alleges McDonald's worker posted photo of customer's wardrobe malfunction

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (CNS) -- A woman is suing McDonald's, alleging a wardrobe malfunction in the drive-through lane of a Hawthorne location ended up being a case of revenge porn by employees who photographed the plaintiff's accidentally exposed breast and posted the image on Yelp.

La Tia Yarbrough's Torrance Superior Court lawsuit alleges negligence, negligent hiring, supervision and retention, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Yarbrough seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

"The unauthorized taking, publication and dissemination of a photo of plaintiff's breast is a shocking and degrading invasion of privacy," according to the suit, which alleges the conduct of more than one McDonald's employee violated, among other things, the state's revenge-porn statute.

A McDonald's representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit.

Yarbrough was a customer in the drive-through lane of the McDonald's restaurant in the 3500 block of Rosecrans Avenue at about 3:40 a.m. on April 2, 2022, the suit states. The order-taker waited 20 minutes to take Yarbrough's order, saying she could not hear the plaintiff, according to the suit.

When Yarbrough finally attempted to place her order, she was told the store was now serving only breakfast, according to the suit.

"Plaintiff complained to the female employee at McDonald's that they wasted her time pretending that they could not hear her and then switched the menu without any explanation, which plaintiff considered unprofessional," the suit states.

Yarbrough, now 32, tried to complain, but as she did so a female employee took a photograph of the plaintiff's vehicle license plate, according to the suit. Yarbrough asked for the employee's name as well as the chance to talk to a supervisor, but allegedly was denied in both cases.

Yarbrough posted a review of her experience on Yelp and in response, a user dubbed "Marquita L" mocked the plaintiff with the statement, "please the next time you (go) to any McDonald's or other restaurant make sure you put on your clothes well, please do not arrive like this," according to the suit.

The posting included an attached photo taken of Yarbrough from inside the McDonald's with a circle around her unintentionally exposed breast, the suit states.

"With a click on the photo ... a larger version of the photo would pop up in which you could clearly see plaintiff's breast as highlighted by McDonald's employee," according to the suit, which further states the plaintiff did not know that her blouse had "shifted accidentally" during her interaction with the McDonald's employees.

Yarbrough also was unaware that McDonald's employees had allegedly taken photographs of her breast that was "inadvertently exposed from her shirt," the suit states.

Yarbrough was left "embarrassed, frightened and angry because she suspected that several people, some of whom may know plaintiff personally, had seen the photo published by defendant's employee in response to plaintiff's lawful and constitutional exercise of free speech ...,'' the suit states.

Yarbrough had an expectation of privacy inside her vehicle and did not expect that a photo of her unintentionally exposed breast would be taken and published on Yelp by McDonald's employees, which has caused the plaintiff to suffer ongoing emotional distress, mental suffering, shame and ridicule, the suit states.