Consumers cannot expect boneless chicken wings to actually be free of bones, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting claims by a restaurant patron who suffered serious medical complications from getting a bone stuck in his throat.

Michael Berkheimer was dining with his wife and friends at a wing joint in Hamilton, Ohio, and had ordered the usual — boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce — when he felt a bite-size piece of meat go down the wrong way. Three days later, feverish and unable to keep food down, Berkeimer went to the emergency room, where a doctor discovered a long, thin bone that had torn his esophagus and caused an infection.

In a 4-3 ruling, the Supreme Court said Thursday that “boneless wings” refers to a cooking style, and that Berkheimer should’ve been on guard against bones since it’s common knowledge that chickens have bones. The high court sided with lower courts that had dismissed Berkheimer’s suit.

  • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    It’s literally the same thing as the McDonald’s hot coffee thing.

    “Everyone knows coffee is hot so it’s her fault” right?

    Well no, turns out the case was a lot more nuanced than that, and she 100% deserved to win.

    You think you made a point because no matter what product I name, you can come up with some creatively stupid way that a human could theoretically hurt themselves with it. All that says is that you’re a creative person. Congrats.

    • Artyom@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      The hot coffee incident was a known issue with their machines. Management had been made aware and was intentionally negligent. An incident was inevitable.

      No one had any way of suspecting there was a bone in the chicken wing, the customer didn’t even notice. Who are you trying to assign blame to?