09/30/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
White Castle lawsuit has familiar ring
Grandpa, is it true that they actually used to serve food hot!?
from Chicago Sun-Times
Michael Strauss, of Chicago, filed suit on Wednesday against the burger company, White Castle, alleging he suffered "great pain and anguish in mind and body" when he bit into an onion ring two years ago and "scalding hot grease splattered out and onto" his arm, "scalding and severely burning him."
Strauss wants more than $50,000 for the "severe and permanent injuries" he suffered after ordering White Castle "onion rings that were in an unreasonably dangerous and defective condition."
Strauss claims the incident happened in October 2002 after he purchased onion rings from the White Castle in Bourbonnais.
In alleging six counts of negligence, Strauss said "White Castle has a duty . . . not to sell food to the general public which is too hot for consumption." Since the incident, Strauss claims, he's had to pay "large sums for medical care."
The suit comes almost 10 years after a jury awarded more than $2 million to a woman who sued McDonald's after scalding hot coffee spilled in her lap. A judge later cut the award to $500,000, but the case became a staple for those citing the need for reforms in the legal system.
In 2002, a Las Vegas taco chain was sued for providing nacho cheese that burned a child. More recently, fast-food restaurants have become the target of suits filed by customers who say they became obese because they ate too much food from restaurants that didn't warn them of such side effects.
