HO HO HO!
Patron ill from eating worm in baked potato, lawsuit says
Carol Sowers
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 12, 2003 01:50 PM
When Stephany DuPont dug into a baked potato from Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburger restaurant in Show Low last year, along with her broccoli and extra cheese, she claims she also got a helping of a well-cooked worm.
"I was in shock," DuPont said in an interview, particularly after she realized that the inch-long critter she found was only half of the worm.
"I'd eaten the other half," she said.
Now she is suing Wendy's and their suppliers. In a lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, DuPont is seeking unspecified damages for what she said was "physical pain and mental anguish" caused by seven months of intestinal distress and a flurry of visits to specialists..
G. David DeLozier, DuPont's Cave Creek lawyer, said medical records show that the single mother of a 2-year-old became so ill she couldn't work.
"It had to be the worm because I was fine before I ate it," DuPont said in an interview.
But Andrea Winans, a Wendy's spokesman in Phoenix, said the corporation's insurance company reviewed DuPont's records and found "no indication of a medical problem."
DeLozier also sued Wendy suppliers Birds Eye Foods, Inc., of Wisconsin, and Schoenmann Produce Co., of Houston. They have denied responsibility in letters to DeLozier and Wendy's. In part, defendants say they can't prove there was a worm because DuPont claims the Wendy's manager tossed the evidence in the trash.
Wendy's offered DuPont food coupons.
But DuPont, who hasn' eaten at Wendy's since, declined.
"I'm still dissecting my food like you wouldn't believe," she said.
How many times do I have to tell these clowns that the worm belongs in the bottle of Mezcal, not in my potato!<G> |
