Court Rules on Tourette Suit
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By Dee-Ann Durbin
Associated Press Writer
Thursday , July 20, 2000
LANSING, Mich. A grocery store acted legally when it fired an employee
whose Tourette's syndrome caused him to swear at customers, the Michigan
Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
"We find it ridiculous to expect a business ... to tolerate this type of language in
the presence of its customers, even though we understand that because of
plaintiff's condition, his utterance of obscenities and racial epithets is
involuntary," the court wrote in a 3-0 decision.
Karl Petzold, 22, suffers from coprolalia, a rare symptom of Tourette's that
causes him to utter obscenities, particularly when he is under stress.
Petzold worked as a bagger at a Farmer Jack store in the town of Hamtramck
for 10 months. He was fired in 1996 after one of his outbursts offended some
black customers. Petzold sued Farmer Jack, saying the company was violating
state civil rights laws that protect the disabled.
The Court of Appeals said Petzold failed to show that Tourette's syndrome was
unrelated to his ability to perform his job at Farmer Jack.
"We emphasize that there certainly are jobs that persons with TS and coprolalia
could perform," the court said in its decision. "However, plaintiff's coprolalia
renders him completely unqualified to perform this particular job, which
required continual contact with members of the general public."
Petzold's attorney, Michael Cutler, has said he will take the case all the way to
the Supreme Court.
© 2000 The Associated Press