By WINNIE HU
Published: August 8, 2013
The New York Times
N.Y./Region
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Three of the people involved in the complaint are Jewish: Larry and Veronica Bitkower, and Charles Kaufman. Charles is third from the left. Larry is first person on right, and Veronica is the third person from the right.]
Photo: Credit: Michael Appleton for The New York Times
From left, Evan Dach, Jacqueline Kaufman, Charles Kaufman, Ralph Wiznitzer, Veronica Bitkower, Miu Ng and Lawrence Bitkower are part of a group suing Starbucks, saying they were refused service at some locations in Manhattan.
The Starbucks coffee shop on Astor Place is an airy, communal retreat where the regulars huddle with their laptops, reconnect with friends and exchange water-cooler gossip over foam lattes.
But Miu Ng, who is deaf, found the coffeehouse decidedly unwelcoming when she wrote down her order for an iced coffee on a slip of paper and tried to hand it to a man behind the counter. He put his hand in her face and waved her away, she said.
Veronica Bitkower, who is also deaf, said that when she used her voice to order a black coffee, she was met with a cold stare that
