Not boneless
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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.
Berkheimer sued the restaurant, Wings on Brookwood, saying the restaurant failed to warn him that so-called “boneless wings” — which are, of course, nuggets of boneless, skinless breast meat — could contain bones. The suit also named the supplier and the farm that produced the chicken, claiming all were negligent.
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.
“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,” Justice Joseph T. Deters wrote for the majority.
The dissenting justices called Deters’ reasoning “utter jabberwocky,” and said a jury should’ve been allowed to decide whether the restaurant was negligent in serving Berkheimer a piece of chicken that was advertised as boneless.
“The question must be asked: Does anyone really believe that the parents in this country who feed their young children boneless wings or chicken tenders or chicken nuggets or chicken fingers expect bones to be in the chicken? Of course they don’t,” Justice Michael P. Donnelly wrote in dissent. “When they read the word ‘boneless,’ they think that it means ‘without bones,’ as do all sensible people.”
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Now we have to imagine that an asterisk on the menu next to Boneless Chicken Wings, indicating that they may contain bones, will cause diners to eat differently. I would chalk this up to a random accident that happened in a context that some lawyer found potentially actionable. I'm not disappointed that the courts rejected it.
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I could see the manufacturer being liable, but probably not the restaurant. They don’t have X-ray equipment and could not be expected to know.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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Mybe just me, but when I see something listed as "boneless" I always have assume that it meant "no bones" and not some sort of cooking style.
What is a boneless cooking style anyway?
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I could see the manufacturer being liable, but probably not the restaurant. They don’t have X-ray equipment and could not be expected to know.
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Mybe just me, but when I see something listed as "boneless" I always have assume that it meant "no bones" and not some sort of cooking style.
What is a boneless cooking style anyway?
@taiwan_girl said in Not boneless:
Mybe just me, but when I see something listed as "boneless" I always have assume that it meant "no bones" and not some sort of cooking style.
What is a boneless cooking style anyway?
It’s cooking meat with no bones in it.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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Just wait until I sue those motherfuckers serving buffalo wings.
I was only joking
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Just wait until I sue those motherfuckers serving buffalo wings.
@Doctor-Phibes said in Not boneless:
Just wait until I sue those motherfuckers serving buffalo wings.
You better call Saul...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_wing
Buffalo wings are named after Buffalo, New York, where they were invented, and have no relation to the animal. They are often called simply chicken wings, hot wings, or just wings.
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What about Jabberwocky wings?
@Doctor-Phibes said in Not boneless:
What about Jabberwocky wings?
We’ll, they really have them, so it’s possible,
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@taiwan_girl said in Not boneless:
Mybe just me, but when I see something listed as "boneless" I always have assume that it meant "no bones" and not some sort of cooking style.
What is a boneless cooking style anyway?
It’s cooking meat with no bones in it.
@Mik said in Not boneless:
@taiwan_girl said in Not boneless:
Mybe just me, but when I see something listed as "boneless" I always have assume that it meant "no bones" and not some sort of cooking style.
What is a boneless cooking style anyway?
It’s cooking meat with no bones in it.
