unilad homepage
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • World News
    • Crime
    • Health
    • Money
    • Sport
    • Travel
  • Film and TV
    • Netflix
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Supreme Court rules that boneless chicken wings can actually have bones following incident that led to two surgeries

Home> News

Published 18:44 26 Jul 2024 GMT+1

Supreme Court rules that boneless chicken wings can actually have bones following incident that led to two surgeries

A man fell fowl of a boneless chicken wing after accidentally swallowing a bone, and the case made it to the Ohio Supreme Court

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images

Topics: Food and Drink, US News, News

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

Advert

Advert

Advert

A Supreme Court’s decision that boneless chicken wings can include bones has been called ‘utter jabberwocky’. I guess the plot chickens.

I’m going to be frank... if I order boneless chicken wings, I expect them to come without bones.

You know, I don’t think that is too much of a tall task, however a recent ruling has insisted that there is no legal obligation for the ‘boneless’ dish to be, well... boneless.

On July 25, the Ohio Supreme court decided on a 4-3 verdict that 'boneless' chicken wings are not guaranteed to be free of bones.

Advert

This was decided against Michael Berkheimer who filed a lawsuit against a restaurant and its suppliers after a swallowed bone, in a boneless chicken meal, resulted in him requiring two surgeries.

A delicious plate of boneless chicken wings. (Getty Stock Image)
A delicious plate of boneless chicken wings. (Getty Stock Image)

Nothing worse than a meal not going down well but having to go to the hospital for a bone stuck in your throat, sounds like an absolute cluck up to me...

Berkheimer was a regular at Wings on Brookwood, a chicken wing restaurant in Hamilton, Ohio, according to court documents, and fell ill after a meal back in 2016.

He went to an emergency room where doctors shockingly discovered a bone lodged in his esophagus. To make matters worse, the one and three-eighths inch bone tore his esophagus, which got infected and eventually led to those two surgeries.

His initial lawsuit was initially thrown out as he argued that the restaurant and its suppliers were negligent in failing to warn him that the 'boneless' wings could contain bones.

After multiple appeals it was brought up to the state Supreme Court.

Better start checking for bones in your boneless meals. (Getty Stock Image)
Better start checking for bones in your boneless meals. (Getty Stock Image)

Justice Joseph T. Deters wrote for the court majority and explained the ruling.

He said: “A diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers.”

However, the judges that disagreed weren’t buying that and called the ruling ‘utter jabberwocky’ (a peculiar phrase, but I agree).

Dissenting judge Justice Michael P. Donnelly added: “When they read the word ‘boneless,’ they think that it means ‘without bones,’ as do all sensible people.”

Choose your content:

a day ago
  • Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images
    a day ago

    Chuck Norris' family condemn AI videos claiming to know star's cause of death

    The family have repeatedly stated that any video making such claims is ‘entirely untrue’

    Celebrity
  • Randy Holmes via Getty Images
    a day ago

    Jack Black issues update on Tenacious D reunion after Kyle Gass’ Trump shooting controversy

    The Jumanji star gave an update regarding the band's future in a recent interview

    Celebrity
  • MS Now
    a day ago

    Pam Bondi's portrait spotted in Justice Department trash one day after Trump firing

    The President announced Bondi was being let go from her role on April 2.

    News
  • Dave Benett/Getty Images for dunhill
    a day ago

    Brian Cox slams Hollywood's biggest names as 'stupid' in brutal rant

    The Succession actor ranted about people he's worked with in the past, as well as big directors

    Celebrity
  • Air fryer owners warned of fire risk if they don't follow 'two-inch' rule
  • Five foods considered 'good for you' that people eat every day which are actually unhealthy
  • Alpha-gal syndrome explained as US sees spread of potentially life-threatening illness
  • Huge recall of nearly 7 tons of ready-to-eat chicken in these states after Listeria scare