DOYLESTOWN – A Bucks County woman is suing a local Chick-Fil-A restaurant and its proprietor, after discovering the bun of a chicken sandwich she was eating contained a dead rodent last year.
Ellen Manfalouti of Holland filed suit in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 10 versus Chick-Fil-A of Oxford Valley Road and Dave Heffernan, both of Langhorne.
According to the lawsuit, Manfalouti’s friend and co-worker visited the Langhorne Chick-Fil-A location and bought a chicken sandwich for her. Manfalouti later began to eat the sandwich back at her workplace, then found the remains of a dead rodent within the sandwich bun.
Attached photographs taken by Manfalouti and submitted as exhibits along with the complaint appear to depict the remains of a small, black rodent with whiskers, legs and a tail, next to the sandwich bun.
Manfalouti says this disgusting discovery led her to be transported to a local hospital for treatment of extreme nausea and anxiety, and prescribed medication accordingly. After allegedly not receiving a satisfactory response regarding the incident from the defendants, the plaintiff retained counsel and filed a lawsuit.
The suit says the restaurant was negligent in failing to supervise employees who “intentionally or knowingly served a sandwich to a customer, which was eaten by plaintiff, with a dead rodent baked into the bun” and failed to inspect its own food products before selling them to customers.
Manfalouti claimed she suffered “pain and suffering, emotional distress, sleeplessness, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and loss of enjoyment of life”, plus incurred medical bills to treat her extreme nausea.
For counts of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, product liability and breach of implied warranty, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, individually, jointly and severally, in excess of $50,000.00, plus interest, costs and other relief the Court may deem appropriate in this matter.
The plaintiff is represented by William M. Davis of McMonagle Perri McHugh & Mischak, in Philadelphia.
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas case 2017-05228
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com