Court Throws Out $475,000 Award For Blind Vendor

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan appeals court has thrown out a decision awarding $475,000 to a blind man who sold food and objected to competition at a state building in Detroit.

The court says the Michigan Commission for the Blind can't be ordered to make financial awards. It reversed a decision by Ingham County Judge Paula Manderfield.

Ron Fellows had vending machines and sold coffee at Cadillac Place from 2005 to 2008. He was unhappy because the state also allowed non-blind businesses to operate in the building, including Subway.

Michigan law says blind people shall operate snack shops in state buildings. But the other businesses already had leases before the state moved into Cadillac Place, the former headquarters of General Motors.