CNN – An Ohio restaurant is not responsible for a customer’s injury after a bone was found in an order of boneless wings, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday, affirming an appellate court’s earlier decision.
Michael Berkheimer filed a lawsuit in 2017 after he ordered boneless wings a year earlier from Wings on Brookwood in Hamilton, Ohio, and he got a bone lodged in his throat, leading to medical issues, according to court records.
In a 4-3 ruling, the state Supreme Court said Thursday that a “boneless” label on the menu “described a cooking style; it was not a guarantee.”
It also noted a lower court’s earlier ruling that “common sense dictated that the presence of bone fragments in meat dishes – even dishes advertised as ‘boneless’ – is a natural enough occurrence that a consumer should reasonably expect it and guard against it” …
OUR TAKE: There are no bones in boneless chicken, and there is no “cooking style” that can render chicken boneless. We can only conclude that this is a boneheaded decision. – HEADLINE HEALTH
“There is no breach of a duty when the consumer could have reasonably expected and guarded against the presence of the injurious substance in the food,” the state Supreme Court opinion says.
CNN has sought comment from Wings on Brookwood and Berkheimer’s attorneys.
Berkheimer’s lawsuit came after he visited the restaurant in 2016 with his wife and friends and placed his “usual order” of boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce, according to court documents. While he was eating a boneless wing, Berkheimer says he felt a piece “go down the wrong pipe.”
Over the next couple of days, he had trouble eating and had a fever that led him to eventually visit the emergency room, according to court documents.
Berkheimer’s medical records said that a doctor found a “5cm-long chicken bone” lodged in his esophagus, according to court records. The bone tore part of his esophagus and later became infected, which led to additional ongoing medical issues, the lawsuit says.
Berkheimer sued the restaurant, a food supplier, and a chicken farm in the Butler County Common Pleas Court in 2017 …
