McDonald’s sued after diner swallows metal object that was in his burger
Louis Spitalieri got to the hair in time but swallowed a piece of metal, according to court filings
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Your support makes all the difference.A New York City man is hauling McDonald’s into court after chomping down on a hamburger and coming away with a clump of hair and a piece of metal in his mouth, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday and obtained by The Independent.
The fast-food giant says its flagship product is made with “100% pure beef and cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else — no fillers, no additives, no preservatives.”
But, in a complaint filed Wednesday in state court, Louis Spitalieri claims McDonald’s served him a burger that fell far short of its self-professed standard.
On April 26, 2024, Spitalieri stopped by a McDonald’s on Staten Island’s Richmond Boulevard for a bite to eat, according to the complaint.
He was “eating the defendant’s hamburger when hair and metal got stuck in his mouth,” the complaint alleges.
“The plaintiff was caused to swallow said metal object,” it goes on.
The McDonald’s Corporation, along with franchise owner Lisa’s Food Group, were “careless, reckless, and negligent… in failing to properly prepare their hamburgers without non-edible products to be consumed by the general public,” the complaint states. It says they were also remiss in “failing to notify and warn” customers “of the dangers of hair, metal, and other non-edible items” they might find within their burgers.
Further, the complaint contends, the two entities employed “incompetent, untrained, inadequate, and insufficient numbers of personnel” to properly inspect the restaurant’s burgers, and did not supervise or train workers in the “necessary procedure… in preparing their hamburgers without hair, wire, or other non-edible products.”
The complaint accuses McDonald’s and Lisa’s Food Group of “evincing a conscious, callous, wanton and utter disregard for the health, safety, and welfare of others… solely out of considerations of expediency and cost control.”
Spitalieri, whose attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, sustained “serious, harmful, and permanent injuries” as a result of eating the hair and metal, and was caused “pain, shock, and mental anguish” in the process, according to the complaint. He has also incurred significant medical expenses due to the incident, it says.
Messages sent on Wednesday to franchise owner Roy Iraci, a US Marine Corps veteran who owns McDonald’s locations in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and a spokesperson for the McDonald’s Corporation, went unanswered.
Earlier this year, McDonald’s was sued after an errant slice of cheese on an area man’s Big Mac sent him into anaphylactic shock. Charles Olsen, a music producer with an acute milk allergy, found himself on the brink of respiratory failure from the alleged error, and nearly died, his lawyer claimed in court filings.
“We’re just so grateful that Mr. Olsen is still with us,” Olsen’s attorney said at the time.
In 2023, a young girl in Singapore made headlines after finding hair cooked into her McDonald’s fries. She was reportedly given a refund to make up for the incident, which prompted the girl to vomit.
Another 2023 incident involved a McDonald’s in Wellington, New Zealand, where a diner claimed she found a “salt-crusted hair mass” attached to one of her fries after having already eaten a third of the order. “Everyone was pretty disgusted by it,” the woman, who was offered a voucher for a free meal, said at the time. “I mean, it was such a gross thing.”
Spitalieri is demanding damages to be determined in court, plus legal costs. McDonald’s and Lisa’s Food Group now have roughly a month to formally respond to the allegations.