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P's ethnicity is African-American, Native-American, and Portuguese, and Acevedo is a Dominican-born Latina. P has experienced racism growing up in Maine. Ps stopped for a cup of iced coffee at a McDonald's restaurant owned and operated by D. Ps placed their order at the first station, paid at the second station, and proceeded to last window, where a D employee named Andrew Mosley handed the iced coffee to P. P asked for a cup of ice. Mosley informed her that to get the cup of ice, they would have to go through the drive-through again. This irritated P. P asked Mosley for his name, and he said, 'Bubba.' Mosley closed the window and left. P waved to another employee, Mohammed Muhee, who came to the window. After P reiterated her request, Muhee gave her a cup of ice and said something along the lines of, 'Don't mind him, he's this way sometimes.' P asked Muhee for Mosley's name, and Muhee told her that his name was Andrew. Ps drove away from the window and saw Mosley delivering food to another car in the parking lot. As Mosley walked back, P called out to him something like 'Good day, Andrew' or 'Have a nice day, Andrew.' Mosley responded by angrily cursing at Ps, 'Fuck you, niggers.' P made a complaint about Mosley to the national corporate office of McDonald's, which promptly notified D. Faye Welsh, D's manager investigated the complaint. Mosley gave a different version of what occurred. Welsh was told to terminate Mosley's employment. Ps filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission, which issued a right-to-sue letter entitling them to commence an action in the Superior Court for damages and attorney fees. Ps filed a complaint against D alleging race and gender discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA). The court held a bench trial. The court determined that Mosley violated the MHRA when he used a racial slur against Ps, but concluded that D was not vicariously liable. Ps appealed.

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