The Olive Pit Menace
Former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich apparently has more terrestrial menaces jeopardizing his health and safety than the off chance of being abducted by aliens: namely, the deadly olive pit.
Specifically, the one that launched a surprise attack on Kucinich and prompted him, naturally, to file a lawsuit. This from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Rep. Dennis Kucinich has rapped a U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria with a $150,000 lawsuit for selling him a vegetarian sandwich wrap in 2008 that he says caused dental damage when he bit into an olive pit.
The lawsuit that the Cleveland Democrat filed Jan. 3 against operators and suppliers of the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria says the sandwich he bought there “on or about” April 17, 2008 “contained dangerous substances, namely an olive pit, that a consumer would not reasonably expect to find in the final product served.”
As best I can tell, the lawsuit doesn’t detail whether the offending olive was a Greek kalamata, an Italian gaeta, or a French picholine, only that its assault was thoroughly devastating:
Biting into it caused serious “permanent dental and oral injuries requiring multiple surgical and dental procedures,” the legal documents say. They contend the congressman is entitled to damages for future dental and medical expenses and to compensate him for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment.
“Said sandwich wrap was unwholesome and unfit for human consumption in that it was presented to contain pitted olives, yet unknown to plaintiff, contained an unpitted olive or olives which plaintiff did not reasonably expect to be in the food prepared for him, and could not visually detect prior to consumption,” the lawsuit said.
A scheduling conference on the case has been set for April 8 before District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Gregory E. Jackson.
Ironically, there’s actually a Charlotte connection to this sad saga of the alleged rouge olive. The Compass Group, which owns the outfit that runs food service at Time Warner Cable Arena, is named in Kucinich’s lawsuit as the company that operates the cafeteria where the alleged olive-pitting incident took place. Go figure.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=5001
