McDonald's Lawsuit Over Marlborough Chicken Spot Settled

MARLBOROUGH, MA — A legal battle over a new fast food restaurant in Marlborough may be over.

McDonald's has agreed to settle a lawsuit it filed against the Marlborough City Council in September over a special permit granted to Raising Cane's, a chicken restaurant set to open a new location at a Boston Post Road plaza next door to the golden arches.

The two fast-food restaurants would share a driveway under the permit granted by the city. Lawyers from McDonald's said the arrangement could hurt traffic flow into the hamburger restaurant, and asked for five traffic upgrades at the site as a remedy. But Raising Cane's only agreed to two of the five traffic upgrades.

McDonald's filed the lawsuit in early October, just a few weeks after Marlborough granted Raising Cane's a special permit to open a restaurant, according to court documents. Court records show the two sides reached a settlement in February and agreed to dismiss the claim in early March.

City Solicitor Jason Grossfield said the city was not part of the settlement between the two fast-food chains, and so didn't know what agreement they reached.

The Louisiana-based Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers chain first applied to open a new restaurant at 141 Boston Post Road in May 2021. The Marlborough location will be the chain's second in the northeast. The chain has dozens of locations across the Southeast, and one location in Boston.