Wow!...Yet another fingertip found in restaurant food.
 

Attorney for Louisiana woman who found fingertip in salad says apology proves lax supervision.
July 4, 2005: 1:07 PM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The lawyer for a Louisiana woman who said she found a severed fingertip in her salad said Monday that an apology from restaurant chain Applebee's International Inc. didn't "totally compensate" his client.

Restaurant chain Applebee's (Research) said a worker accidentally cut the "very tip of his thumb" last year, an incident it says may have triggered a lawsuit from a Louisiana woman who said she found a severed fingertip in her salad. Applebee's described the event as an "isolated incident" in a statement released on Saturday.

The company apologized to May Deal Chambers Johnson, who filed the lawsuit last week.

Johnson's lawyer, Michael Darnell of New Orleans, told Reuters on Monday: "We appreciate the fact that Applebee's has made an apology, but that doesn't totally compensate my client (May Johnson) for the revolting experience she had and the trauma she has sustained because of the incident.

"Additionally, the statement by Applebee's seems to make a case for a lax supervision by the franchiser of this particular franchisee, in that according to Applebee's they apparently didn't discover that incident for at last a year later."

While Applebee's had said some facts are still unclear, it believes a former employee at one of its Louisiana franchise restaurants had cut off part of his thumb. According to the worker, the cut was roughly the size of a sunflower seed, Applebee's said.

"We believe this was the incident that may have led to the claim by Ms. Johnson," Applebee's said previously.

The company, based in Overland Park, Kan., said it immediately launched an investigation after it learned about the lawsuit last Monday. Several members of its senior management team traveled to Louisiana to look into the matter.

This was the second incident in the United States this year involving a severed finger found in food bought at a national restaurant chain.

A California woman drew national attention in March when she said she found a finger in a bowl of chili from a Wendy's International Inc (Research). restaurant in San Jose, Calif.

The case was later found to be a hoax and the woman was jailed on grand theft charges, but not before Wendy's suffered a steep drop in sales.

In the Louisiana case, Johnson said she suffered physical and psychological harm when she discovered the object in a take-out salad from an Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson in June 2004.

Her lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses the restaurant of unsanitary food preparation and improper training of employees, as well as "failure to prevent the inclusion of a human fingertip in a salad to go."

These things are like Willy Wonka Golden Tickets...

Welcome to last week. Applebee's is already acknowledging this as being true. Prepare for a multi-million dollar law suit.

cha ching let that cash register ring

this woman was "traumatized" my arse

she sees a meal ticket

The size of a sunflower seed? How did she even notice it or identify it?

I also love how she is suing because "she suffered physical and psychological harm". What kind of physical harm could she have suffered other than getting sick to her stomach?

ROFL That is the funniest thing I've read all day. Rep forthcoming

I dont care who you are...that right there is funny. ROFL

How would it not just be like another piece of meat in the salad. It has nutritional value right?

ROFL
I wonder how they could have even termed it a "fingertip" if it was that small.

Maybe it was all curled up, consequently looking different?

No problem for us....Applebee's was on our BAN list anyway.

Poor service, everytime!

Because the word "fingertip" make everyone that reads it immediately think of the entire end of a finger. That plays better for the media and the money grubbing bitch.

Fingerprint this little tip.

Lawyer lookin for another payday.

I would like to see the courts throw this out as fravilous. (sp)

Applebee's will settle just to shut her up.