More Then A Meal

[Jack Johnson]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Occurred in Washington State.


My wife and I arrived at a nice restaurant and were served a drink...bread and clam chowder. After finishing the clam chowder our waitress walked up to our table and said ""sir...do you realize that your mount is bleeding?" I wiped my lips thinking that it was something minor...the more I wiped the heavier the blood flow became. Within minutes I had to leave the restaurant, my mouth was filling with blood and it was coagulating into a mass, I had no idea of what had happened? I'm nearly 70 and this blindsided me...no I'm not on blood thinners. The meal was expensive, I asked my wife to pay for the meal and bring our dinner's to the truck. The bleeding continued and we ended up in emergency...a vein had been cut under my tongue. (near the back of my tongue on the bottom) They tried to carterize (sp) the wound to no avail...then more shots then stiches. We eventually returned to the RV and my wife began eating her cold dinner. We found a stainless steel wire (like for a heavy duty scrubbing pad) about an 1" long in her pasta! Then I was affraid that I'd injested metal and we went back to emergency for X-rays that evening...nothing metallic could be found. They suggested that I was cut by glass in the food, however no debris was found and it apparently passed normally...no further internal bleeding occurred.

I was cut, the wife found metal debris in her pasta and small broken bits of muscle shell were found in my dinner.

I made contact with the insurance company and they asked for a verbal report and assigned a case number. Now, they have gone silent and are not returning phone messages? No one has offered to take care of any of our expenses or even comp dinner! Do I need to find legal help...do I have a reasonable case? Any advice that you have will be greatly appreciated...Thank you.

[justalayman]

so, did this happen last night or a year ago?

since you do not know what cut you, I might suggest a piece of clamshell from the chowder a likely suspect. If so, then since all clams have shells, this would not be considered to be a foreign object and would limit any claim you might have.

The fact of the metal in the wifes pasta is unfortunate but unless there was injury attributed to the metal, all you would be due was a refund for the food.


I would push for a refund (considering the number of problems in one meal, I think I would pass on a free meal). I don't see any clear cut win on anything else.

[Jack Johnson]

About 3 weeks ago...darn, I was hoping to recover our expenses. I appreciate your reply.

[justalayman]

You can surely try. The worst they can say is no but I doubt you will have much of any legal support to require them to pay.

[InsaneJane]

Your mouth was cut by something that should not have been in the food served to you, and it caused 2 trips to the ER. At which point work was preformmed. Now the insurance company is blowing you off.
Yes you should seek the help of a lawyer.

[ecmst12]

A clam shell is a naturally occurring object in a bowl of clam chowder, there is a reasonable expectation that it might be there. Restaurant is not liable.

[Jack Johnson]

The restaurant owner said that he thought I had a piece of glass in the chowder...or beer. The bills are starting to come in and its in the thousands...I'm in shell shock and I have insurance!

The insurance company has declined any help by letter now, I need an attorney in Washington state...small claims court?? I really hate to get beat up like this!

[justalayman]

How would the owner know if it was glass?

If he does have some reason to believe there was actually broken glass in your food or beer, that may be what it takes for you to prevail since he is basically admitting he was aware of some broken glass in the kitchen and you ended up with a piece.

It is still not a sure thing since you do not have whatever cut you but it is a step.