Judge Clears Burger King

A federal judge has ruled Burger King Corp. did not break a promise with a black Detroit businessman to let him open more than 200 restaurants, setting the stage for the chain’s bid to revoke his existing franchises.

“This battle may have been won by Burger King, but the war is far from over,” the man’s attorney said Friday.

In a case that prompted the Rev. Al Sharpton to call for a boycott of world’s No. 2 fast-food chain, U.S. District Court Judge Marianne Battani ruled that La-Van Hawkins had signed away any right to sue Miamibased Burger King in a “clear and unambiguous” July 1999 agreement.

Hawkins’ Urban City Group sued Burger King in federal court in April, accusing the company of fraud and reneging on a deal to let Hawkins open 225 stores within five years. Burger King argued it never made such a promise and countersued, seeking more than $6.5 million it says Hawkins owes on a 1998 loan.

Hawkins sought at least $500 million and an injunction to prevent Burger King from closing his 20-plus franchises nationwide in retaliation.

In arguing that Burger King racially discriminated against him, Hawkins accused the chain of once saying “those people don’t know how this system works,” in reference to Hawkins’ largely black organization.