Auroran sues IHOP; claims service dog discrimination

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Updated: June 16, 2011 12:26AM

An Aurora man has sued the International House of Pancakes, saying employees at the popular breakfast restaurant discriminated against him because he uses a service dog.

The suit, filed in Kane County Court, alleges that Ricky Lee Schopp went to the IHOP restaurant on Augusta Way in Aurora on June 30, 2009, with his mother and his service dog, Phato. Schopp is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair. Phato, a Labrador retriever, helps with certain skills, like opening doors.

At first, Schopp, his mother and the dog were seated at a table by the IHOP hostess, the suit says. However, not long after they sat down, an IHOP employee demanded they move to a different section of the restaurant that had no other customers, forcing them to eat alone, the suit says. The employee said the reason for the changing tables was that Schopp had a dog with him.

After being informed that it was a service dog, the employee still insisted they move or leave the restaurant, the suit alleges. Schopp chose to leave the restaurant.

IHOP did not return calls for comment.

The suit was initially filed as a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, which dismissed the complaint for lack of substantial evidence. Schopp’s attorney, Philip Piscopo, said they do not agree with the Human Rights department’s decision.

The suit seeks damages in excess of $50,000 — and demands that Schopp and Phato be allowed to eat at the restaurant.

Piscopo said Schopp, who is in his 50s, has faced similar circumstances in the past. He previously sued a restaurant for not allowing his dog in, Piscopo said. That case was settled out of court, but the details of that settlement were not available. It took years for Schopp to want to try eating at a restaurant again, Piscopo said.

Schopp declined to comment for this story. However, in 1992, The Beacon-News ran a story about how he became paralyzed.

In 1989, Schopp, an active sportsman, was relaxing on a friend’s boat, floating in the Illinois River near Ottawa. Schopp jumped off the boat into 3 feet of water and a sandbar. He hit headfirst, instantly crushing three vertebrae and his spinal cord. He nearly drowned until friends realized he could not move.

Schopp has limited movement in his arms, but no movement in his fingers.