On May 6, 2007, the plaintiffs (a husband a wife) bought some fried chicken from a restaurant. That night, they ate part of the chicken. The remainder of the chicken was put in a plastic bag and placed in the refrigerator. The next day, the husband took the chicken to work to eat. When the husband removed a piece of chicken from the bag, he noticed a human tooth embedded in the crust of the chicken. He became sick to his stomach, vomited, and went home from work early. That night, he vomited again. The next day, he went to see his doctor, complaining of nausea, vomiting, achiness, and dizziness. As a result of this experience, he missed 3 days of work.
The plaintiffs filed suit against the fried chicken restaurant, alleging what appeared to be a breach of implied warranty of merchantability, breach of contract, breach of warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, and loss of consortium. The plaintiffs sought compensatory and punitive damages. The defendant moved for summary judgment because the plaintiffs had failed to provide sufficient evidence to support a negligence claim and because the tooth never caused any physical injury to the husband.
The Montgomery County Circuit Court granted the motion for summary judgment. The plaintiffs appealed to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. The appeals court affirmed the circuit court's ruling, indicating that the plaintiffs had failed to properly assert a negligence claim. See Gunn v. KFC U.S. Properties, Inc., decided on April 8, 2011.
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