McDonalds fails to hold the cheese, gets sued for $10 mill.

from JoeUser Forums

Before you read the headline and instantly think that McDonalds getting sued for $10 million for failing to hold the cheese on a burger order, be sure to read the entire referenced article and realize that the person suing McDonalds because of the screw-up had a severe allergic reaction thanks to this mistake, and also be aware that the McDonalds that screwed up could only seem to find it in their hearts to offer to pay half -- that is one-half (1/2) -- of the medical bills that were incurred when the consumer of the burger with the cheese melted on it had to be rushed to the hospital.

Headline here: Man says hold the cheese, claims McDonald's didn't, sues for $10 million

Having written plenty on the subject of screws up in fast food restaurants (see recent article: What is it with quick service restaurants that can't... ) I'm well aware that service in many fast food restaurants, well, frankly the word is sucks.

These places can't seem to get orders right, and don't care about the cleanliness of their establishments or the speed with which they serve people and get them their orders.  As others have said, the people working in these establishments normally get paid low wages, doing dirty, grimey jobs, and typically go home feeling as if they've been coated in the grease that is produced when their food products are cooking.

That doesn't, however, excuse McDonalds and their restaurant here. If someone orders an item plain, or without a certain condiment, these restaurants need to get the order straight and be sure that the customer gets only what they ask for.

Chick Fil A is typically better for service, cleanliness, and the like, and generally has better food so I tend to go there for meals when I'm desiring fast food.  The only problem is that I really, really, really don't like pickles.  I'm not necessarily allergic to them, but I may as well be as I just can't stand them and quickly detect the taste if a pickle has been near my food.  I can taste the pickle that was just in the food handler's hands when that lazy food handler grabs the chicken filet and puts it on my sandwich, and I can most definitely taste the left over pickle juice and pickle taste if the cooks get lazy and simply try removing the pickle and giving me a sandwich that was already made.

While Chick Fil A is pretty good at making sure that I get a sandwich that didn't have a pickle on it, and their employees are pretty good at not directly handling the chicken filets, it still happens every now and then, and when it does the meal that I was looking forward to becomes one that I feel ripped off over.  I almost wish that I was allergic to pickles so that I could sue the bejeezus out of the Chick Fil A restaurants that do screw up in that regard.

There are many other foods I don't like, and especially condiments I don't care for.  Mayonaise, Mustard, Ketchup, etc., just don't normally have need or desire for those things.  Keep them away from my meal.

When these restaurants inevitably screw up and serve me something different than I order, they will get that item back as I *always* check the item before biting into it (something that the customer in the original article didn't do, but should have perhaps.  Regardless, it doesn't let the McDonalds off the hook for screwing up the order).  But I shouldn't have to, nor should the customer that is now suiing McDonalds, keep double and triple checking the food that we get.  These places should give us the right order to begin with, and perhaps if they were better managed from top to bottom, they would.

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12,744 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

One thing that I'm still very, very glad isn't a regular add-on for fast foods -- Mushrooms.  I've never been a fan of them, and I am possibly allergic to them, so keeping them off my food is probably saving a ton of money for restaurants that would screw up and put them on my food.

The local pizza places look at my wife like she's crazy when she gives them an order for pizza that is half-cheese, half-pepperoni, while also giving them an order for something like a half-mushroom and half-cheese pizza for us.  They try to sell her on getting a whole plain and a half-and-half of whatever.  When they make those for us, they inevitably spill the mushrooms, or onions (another favorite of my wife) across the halfway mark and wind up trying to give me bonus veggies to go with my pepperoni.  Double ugh.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
The lawsuit alleges Jeromy "was only moments from death" or serious injury by the time he reached the hospital.


You know, if it's that lethal to the idiot, does he really consider his life so worthless he can't lift the bun and make sure? He's really going to entrust his life to a bunch of bored, underpaid teens who couldn't care less about anything.

People make mistakes. You should always check your order when you receive it. These three geniuses drove to another city, went into a darkened room, started eating, and never looked at the food, and it's McDonald's fault? I don't freaking think so.

His mother Trela Jackson and friend Andrew Ellifritz are parties to the lawsuit because they say they risked their lives rushing Jeromy to United Hospital Center in Clarksburg.


Yeah, right. Scam artists.

"We're interested in seeing McDonald's take responsibility and change a systemic quality control problem that endangers the lives of up to 12 million Americans with allergies,"


Typical lawyer-speak hyperbolic nonsense. No-one's perfect and people have to take some responsibility for themselves. They even claim at one point in their lawsuit that this was intentional -- "intentional infliction of emotional distress" -- give me a break.

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.


None of whom, by the way, actually make the food, and they also probably aren't allowed to open it up and look for him; health codes would probably require plastic gloves to touch the food. So, someone made a mistake. This guy is still so lame that knowing he's deathly allergic to something and has nonetheless knowingly ordered a product that is known to regularly come with the thing he is deathly allergic to that nowhere in all the long time he had this burger in his possession could he be bothered to open it up and make sure the thing which would nearly kill him was not on the burger? B.S.

Jeromy took one bite and started having the reaction, Houston said. One of the three immediately called the McDonald's to let restaurant employees know they had messed up the order, but had to cut the call short when Jeromy started having a bad reaction, Houston said.


"Oh my god! My baby ate deadly cheese! He's convulsing! He's gonna die! Let's dig around for the phone number of the McDonald's miles away which we just happened to stop at on the way home and call them!"

Double B.S. This is a fraud.

The guy's either an idiot or a scam artist (probably the latter). He's at least 50 percent responsible. Let him pay the other 50 percent of the bills. (According to the article, McDonald's did offer to pay all of the $700 medical bill -- but that's not good enough for these scam artists, they want millions! KA-CHING!)


I didn't sue Taco Bell when their new special sauce sent me to the hospital. I didn't stop to call the restaurant. (In fact, I never talked to them about it.) And I didn't expect anybody else to pay my bills. It was my fault for not making sure of what the ingredients were, and even if I had grilled the Taco Bell workers about the ingredients I wouldn't have sued them for being wrong, because what the hell do they know anyway? It's my allergy, my problem.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm with Gene on this one. A peanut allergy - sure, I can understand people getting pissed when they're lied to or the staff don't give a correct answer on that. You can't always see peanuts, oils, food additives and the like.

But a big piece of cheese? It takes a special person to just take a bite of a burger when they can probably see the cheese hanging out the sides.

With an allergy like that he shouldn't be eating foods that are at all likely to contain milk products, and he should be taking better care of his health by checking everything out before he eats. He should also carry an Epipen just in case.

McDonalds should have offered to pay his full medical costs right from the off-set, but 10 million? That's insane.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
He should also carry an Epipen just in case.


Exactly. I don't go anywhere without emergency medicine.

(Since that Taco Bell incident, anyway! )
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
I concur with cacto and Gene. This is insipid, and they'd better not get one. Lousy. F***in'. Red. Cent.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
I guess I'm falling in with the majority so far here. Yes, McDonald's should be paying all the medical bills and stuff, but McDonald's isn't responsible to make sure they know the medical conditions of all their customers.

If this was a spice or something that the guy couldn't really check before chowing down, I might side with him completely on this. However, those of us with idiosyncratic medical conditions are responsible for monitoring them, not the owners and employees of the places we choose to go.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
1. I check my orders for accuracy before I leave the window, and I'm not allergic to anything.

2. If I was allergic to something that is often put on burgers, I would definitely check before eating, regardless of how many times I had asked.

3. He probably did check first, and said, "Hey, $10 million burger here."

4. I want mushrooms on my fast food burgers.

5. His Mom should have checked for him if he hadn't. What kind of mother are you, raising your kid to think that fast food burgers are always as ordered? Not checking his cheese burger for him?

I hope he doesn't get anything, but really he should get anything. Intentional infliction of emotional distress? No way. Punitive damages? Huh-uh. Negligence? Definitely. But he was just as negligent. So it depends on the state.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

I think this is natural selection at work.  Come on- if you are that allergic to a food item, why the heck are you eating someplace that is known for mistakes and poorly prepared food?  On top of that- you didn't even bother looking at it before you eat it?  I check out my food before I eat it whenever I go out to eat- no matter where.  I'm not allergic to anything, but I want to make sure that there isn't anything "extra" in the food, and that it's cooked correctly.

And people wonder why the rest of the world refers to us as "Sue happy Americans"........

Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
Looks like he got some serious whine with that cheese, I wonder how many times this family has sued someone over something like this before?
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
I've been doing it wrong. I guess I should be suing the owners of every building I've ever passed out in. Where to find a good (or is it "bad") Lawyer? ;~D
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

I think I am going with the majority here as well.  It may be true, but we have too many fingers and mice stories going around,  And I am sorry, in pitch black, i can tell if there is chees on my burger when I open it up.

I would not be surprised to see if this was not a setup as well.

Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
I listened to the MSNBC video on this one - and albeit it was the "tame lawyer" they tend to bring into these things to pad out a story, the lawyer clearly had a hard time stopping herself laughing. $700 and a bit on the side for hassle etc - fair cop - but $10m, insane. According to her any award would in any case be automatically cut in half as he didnt bother "lifting the lid" and looking when he had a known severe allegy (culpable negligence) - which was the basis of the original McDonalds offer. They have apparently now offered the full $700.

As to the family getting a free ride, she claimed no chance, quote "we have trained professionals to drive 100mph in emergency and they are not one of them, dial 911". At least there was one voice of sanity in a stupid incident.