The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the label ‘boneless wing’ does not guarantee that the chicken wings will be completely bone-free. The case was brought to court by Michael Berkheimer, who suffered medical issues after a bone got stuck in his throat while eating a boneless wing served by a restaurant.
According to court documents, Mr. Berkheimer ordered boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce at Wings on Brookwood in Ohio. After cutting the wings into pieces and eating them, he ended up in the emergency room three days later with a fever and difficulty keeping food down. A doctor discovered a 5cm-long chicken bone lodged in his esophagus, causing serious medical problems.
Mr. Berkheimer filed a complaint against the restaurant, its supplier, and a chicken farm for negligence, breach of warranty, and other violations. However, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that the term ‘boneless wing’ is simply a description of a cooking style and not a guarantee of bone-free wings.
The dissenting justices argued that consumers expect boneless chicken wings to be free of bones and that Mr. Berkheimer should have been allowed to present his negligence claim to a jury. They emphasized that jurors, who likely have experience with boneless wings, would be better equipped to determine consumer expectations in such cases.
