Court: Lawsuit over boy’s gluten-free meal can proceed

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit alleging that a restaurant in Colonial Williamsburg forced an 11-year-old Maryland boy to leave when he brought his own gluten-free meal on a school field trip.

The lawsuit says Colonial Williamsburg violated the Americans With Disabilities Act when the boy was forced to sit outside after Shields Tavern said it had a rule against bringing in outside food.

A judge had dismissed the lawsuit, but the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling Friday and said the case should be decided by a jury.

Colonial Williamsburg has said it never asked the boy and his father to leave the restaurant. The living history museum says they chose to leave and refused to accept a gluten-free meal the restaurant offered to make.