Woman Settles Rights Suit Over Breast-Feeding

A woman who was told not to breast-feed at a Borders bookstore has settled her civil rights lawsuit against the chain, her attorney said Wednesday.

Terms of the settlement, reached within the past week, were not disclosed.

“It was a very unsettling experience,” Kerry Madden-Lunsford said in a statement. “But I was heartened that Borders was so quick to recognize their mistake and work to rectify the situation.”

Madden-Lunsford, 37, sued the corporation in April, alleging her civil rights were violated when a Borders employee asked her to stop breast-feeding her baby during a visit to a Borders store in Glendale. The manager told her company policy did not allow breast-feeding in the store.

The store manager and chain owner, Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders Group Inc., acknowledged the mistake and apologized.

Madden-Lunsford went ahead with the suit anyway, saying the state law that permits breast-feeding in public needed to be protected and enforced.

“We’re happy that we were able the reach a settlement and pleased that she’s going to continue to be a Borders customer,” said Borders spokeswoman Marilyn Slankard.