Federal lawsuit: Deaf nonprofit banned from concessions program at Comerica Park

A Detroit nonprofit that helps members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community is suing companies that own and operate food and beverage concessions at Comerica Park, alleging it was banned from participating in a program at the ballpark after a communication breakdown last year with a secret shopper.

The civil lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit by DAD Delphine Alfred Duncan Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and its volunteers Jason Pauling, Zion White, Shatia Tankersley and Deangelo Simmons, all of Detroit and who are deaf or hard of hearing.

"This lawsuit is just about basic fairness and dignity and respect of folks who are members of the community, who are valuable members and who should be treated as such," said John Philo, an attorney with the Sugar Law Center For Economic & Social Justice in Detroit, which filed the discrimination lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act.

The suit states that discrimination arose from the defendants' failure to make reasonable accommodations in the work methods and operations of their concessions and during the training, management and supervision of workers from the nonprofits they recruit to staff food and beverage concession stations in Comerica Park during the baseball season.

It alleges the defendants Delaware Sportservice established and maintained a program that recruits nonprofits to provide unpaid volunteers to staff concession stands at the ballpark and other venues. In exchange, Delaware Sportservice makes donations to sponsoring nonprofits.

The suit names as defendants Delaware North Companies, Incorporated; Delaware North Companies Sportservice, Inc.; Detroit Sportservice, Inc.; Detroit District Sportservice, Inc.; Sportservice Food Service, Inc.; Detroit Hospitality Sportservice, Inc., and Woodward Sportservice Inc.

No attorneys were listed for the defendants Wednesday in federal court records. A spokesperson for Delaware North wrote in an email to the Free Press on Wednesday that "we cannot comment on an active lawsuit."

At the beginning of the 2023 baseball season, Delaware Sportservice contacted nonprofits to provide volunteers to staff concession stations in Comerica Park. They contacted the DAD Foundation and invited it to attend the necessary volunteer trainings. The foundation's officers and volunteers, including the four plaintiffs, completed the trainings, the lawsuit says.

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The suit states Delaware Sportservice informed the foundation the nonprofit would have to provide its own sign language interpreters to communicate instructions to its volunteers and that the defendants had no accommodations at its concession stations for the deaf or hard of hearing.

Delaware Sportservice did not provide accommodations for the plaintiffs during the training, and after completing the training, it assigned the foundation to a concession station, with volunteers starting to work in spring 2023, per the lawsuit.

The defendants did not provide any accommodations at the concession station, including signage to inform customers how to order and communicate with the deaf or hard-of-hearing volunteers. And, the lawsuit states, supervisors stationed near the concession stand to oversee the work of the volunteers were not trained in communicating and did not provide accommodation to the plaintiffs in the supervision or management of the work.

The lawsuit alleges that on June 20, 2023, Delaware Sportservice sent a secret shopper to buy food and/or beverage items from the plaintiffs' concession station. The secret shopper made no accommodation for the plaintiffs, speaking with the volunteers and treating them as though they had no hearing impairment. The secret shopper refused to accommodate their conditions when ordering, asking questions, paying and communicating with the volunteers, according to the complaint.

"As a result, significant miscommunication, communication breakdowns, and resulting emotional exchanges occurred" between the secret shopper and the plaintiffs, per the complaint.

As a result of the exchange, it states, the defendants discharged the plaintiffs and banned them from participating in the nonprofit program at the ballpark. The ban, the plaintiffs allege, caused a significant loss of revenue to the foundation and mental anguish and emotional distress to its four volunteers.

Philo said the foundation has participated in the nonprofit program at the ballpark in the past and it provided sign language interpreters to its volunteers during the training. He said an interpreter was not available at the time the secret shopper was there in June 2023. He said the secret shopper was shouting at the volunteers and there was a lack of communication.

He did not immediately know how much the foundation earned from participating in the nonprofit program at the ballpark or how much it lost after it was banned.

More importantly, Philo said, the program provides these volunteers "a way to be out and connect with the broader community" and perform work they enjoyed. He said the lawsuit is to get them treated fairly, get them back in the stadium and recognize they are a part of the community.

Philo said the plaintiffs weren't banned because of relationships with the customers, but because of the secret shoppers, who were unaware those they were communicating with were deaf or hard of hearing. He said other stadiums have accommodations for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Philo said there was an attempted mediation through an informal process through the Department of Justice but "it didn't go anywhere."

Delaware North indicated that for about 30 years it has supported nonprofits, helping them raise millions of dollars annually by operating concession stands at sports venues across the country. The nonprofits receive a percentage of sales and gratuities earned from their volunteers' fundraising efforts at the ballpark.

Free Press staff writer Sue Selasky contributed to this report.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Federal lawsuit: Deaf nonprofit banned from concessions program at Comerica Park