Aug 11 2007
Should McDonalds pay $10 million penalty for serving a moron?
The Drudge Report almost always has eye-catching headlines such as this one from the Charleston Daily Mail: “Man says hold the cheese, claims MCDONALD’s didn’t, sues for $10 million…”
This young man, his mother, and a friend are suing McDonald’s for $10 million dollars because the young man bit into a Quarter Pounder and had a severe allergic reaction to the cheese. The mother and friend are plaintiffs because they claim they had to risk their lives to rush the young man to the hospital.
Excerpt:
Houston said his clients were in Morgantown in October 2005 and stopped at the Star City McDonald’s on the way home to Clarksburg. Jeromy Jackson was living with his mother at the time.
Jeromy did his part to make it known he didn’t want cheese on the hamburgers because he is allergic, Houston said.
He told a worker through the ordering speaker and then two workers face-to-face at the pay and pick-up windows that he couldn’t eat cheese, Houston said.
“By my count, he took at least five independent steps to make sure that thing had no cheese on it,” Houston said. “And it did and almost cost him his life.”
After getting the food, the three drove to Clarksburg and started to eat the food in a darkened room where they were going to watch a movie, Houston said.
End of excerpt.
This young man, knowing the danger cheese could pose to his very existence, chose not to unwrap the burger at the drive-thru window or to lift the bun and take a peek before biting into it. The only gross negligence is on the part of the young man himself, who is either a moron or yet another immoral person seeking ill-gotten wealth. If the former is the case, he should be taught to look at his burgers before eating them. If the latter is the case, he and his co-plaintiffs should pay some sort of criminal penalty.
Hi Sam,
Are you advocating personal responsibility / accountability?
Not trying to sound mean, but anyone stupid enough to bite into cheeseburger while being deathly allergic to cheese but refusing to double check whether or not there is cheese present should probably be removed from the gene pool. It makes me think they decided to risk it for the potential law suit.
My daughter is not deathly allergic to onions, yet she takes the time to make sure McDonalds hasn’t put them on her Big Mac before chomping down — and those suckers are hard to find!
You would think with such a bad allergy to cheese you would check EVERY time.
Isn’t it amazing how personal accountability has become a novelty?
I’m like Tommi’s daughter, I don’t like ketchup so I always ask for no ketchup and then check my burgers for it before I eat them. It’s not a complicated procedure. Also the articles about this case say that when Jeromy first started having an allergic reaction, his family called McDonald’s BEFORE rushing him to the hospital to complain about the messed-up order. Strange priorities!
My oldest doesn’t like cheese on his burgers… being a wise old 12, he knows to look before he bites!