Washington Deputy Suing Burger King For Spit In Whopper After Tracing The DNA

From Huff Po:

Over the past few years, the Washington State Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Barbara A. Madsen, has heard cases involving meth addicts, stolen BMWs, coffee shop burglaries and taxes on cable TV. But if it agrees to hear the case of Edward Bylsma v. Burger King, as the Seattle Post-Intelligence reports the the Ninth Circuit of Appeals to have recommended, it will likely confront the first case in its 123-year history in which the principle material agents are a hamburger and a wad of human spit.

The case in question dates back to March 2009, when Bylsma, a deputy sheriff in Clark County, stopped for lunch at a Burger King in Vancouver, Wash.. He ordered a Whopper. But when he got his burger, he started to feel "uneasy;" his gut said something was wrong. He peeled back the burger's bun to make sure everything was OK -- and saw a huge, white glob of spit sitting on top of the patty.

Deputy Bylsma felt ill all day; he claims that he even vomited on account of his emotional distress. He sent the burger away for DNA testing to try and trace the spit back to an individual person. When the results linked the loogie to Burger King employee Gary Herb, Bylsma moved to sue Burger King. He said that he became unable to eat food from restaurants and lived in fear of contracting a foodborne illness.

He's been pursuing the suit ever since, without much success. But today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer article explains that the Ninth Circuit could not determine whether "emotional distress" alone can constitute grounds for a liability suit under Washington state law. The Ninth Circuit asked the Supreme Court to clarify the issue.

On its own, then, Edward Bylsma v. Burger King may sound humble. But an entire host of potential future Mealbreaker cases could rest on its shoulders, not to mention lawsuits far from the realm of fast food. And the Court's precedent could well influence decisions outside Washington's borders. The state's Supreme Court is second only to California's in the number of its rulings that are followed elsewhere.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Comments

[WMDKitty]

Can we say "misuse of police power", "misappropriation of resources", and "WASTE OF THE COURT'S TIME"?

'Sides, Piggy-pig probably deserved it.

[Former Farmer]

Suing Burger King? Um, no. Suing the guy who spit in his food? Absolutely!

Seriously, it's not BK's fault someone spit in his food. And whether he was rude, entitled, etc. is irrelevant, no one "deserves" to ingest someone else's bodily fluids.

[Spritzy]

I was gonna say...misuse of police resources for sure.
Burger King employee should be charged, and Birger King is liable for the employee's actions as well due to the employee being a representitive of the company.

[Lady Red]

That is a total misuse of police resources, and I hope they throw the case out. It is not the company's fault an employee spit in his food , if anything he should be going after the employee who did it.

I also hope the guy gets in trouble for misuse of police resources that should be used only to help solve crimes.

[Jo0b]

All WA cops are whiny little piss ants. I've had a run in with a few. Doesn't matter if they are local, county, or state.

[chris]

@Lady Red: spitting in somebody's food IS a crime in every state of which I'm aware. (If you want to know why, just think about how many diseases can be transmitted via saliva.) Once he saw the gob of saliva, he had pretty good evidence that a crime had been committed, so how is it misuse of police resources to solve that crime?

(If you read the linked stories, the worker who did the spitting pled guilty to assault. Using evidence to get a conviction usually doesn't qualify as misuse of police resources either.)

[WMDKitty]

Hey, Alvis, get back to me when you've been ILLEGALLY stopped and searched because you were on the same block as some "suspicious looking" (read: homeless) people and the cops try to plant "evidence" on you during that search. Talk to me when you've had a bogus ticket issued for "possession" when all you had was a cigarette. Oh, oh, and try reporting repeated assaults by a partner -- and then being told that you're "just a hysterical woman".

[Wreckerator]

Deep pockets lawsuit at its finest. If the guy works for Burger King, he probably doesn't have a lot of cash--can't get blood from a stone.

I'm curious to see where this case will go.

[hellraiser]

I just find it hilarious that one of his complaints is he "became unable to eat fast food." *gasp* As if that's so terrible. Congratulations mister, the decision to eat healthier has just been made for you.

[Franken-catererer]

@WMDkitty - what does your (i'm guessing) experiences with police in another area and for different matters have to do with this? It sounds terrible if that's what you've been through but it's a completely different thing.

It's disgusting and it's assault and completely unacceptable in any way. Who cares if the guy is a police officer, he's a person and no one deserves that.

He was completely right to trace the guy and I hope he gets locked up. I also hope that if anyone else on this site did anything like this that they would be traced and locked up too!

[Archonix]

Did he order a liter of cola?

Anyway, whilst he may have overstepped the mark a little I think I prefer this to the misuse of police resources involved in chasing down people for going a single mile over the posted speed limit on a clear, empty road in bright sunlight on a dry day.

[Nick]

Erm, spit isn't white and only one thing I know of is.

I am glad the guy got some justice. I had one friend of my mothers have "spit" in her food and she was hospitalized for a week. She had an allergy to something and the guy got fired for "spitting"

I hope the Deputy is ok.

[Empress Whatchamahcallit]

No matter how irritatingly shitty a customer is, spitting in their food is just nasty. Just screw up their order so they are forced to get a new burger, duh. I hate bad cops, I really do...but spitting into someone's food is just...immature and dumb.

[Bitch Boy]

Actually, Nick, spit can be white in color. It can be caused by many factors such as a sinus infection, basic cold, sore throat, hydration issues, et cetera.

Just like Empress stated, it is dumb to spit in someone's food and is illegal. It is the equivalent of a biological attack on someone. Now before I get slammed by a troll, the basic definition of a biological attack is the use of bacteria/germs/viruses as a weapon.

Spitting in someone's food, while most consider to be just an immature act, is the same as a slap in the face. A slap in the face is considered assault in a court of law. So that employee slapped the officer in the face with a biological agent from his own body.

Frankly, I personally believe that anyone who would go so low as to purposely contaminate anyone's food/drink should be taken out back and beaten with a rubber hose (and then prosecuted).

As for my feelings of law enforcement...

I've seen both sides and, just like politics, there are the good and the bad.

[NC Tony]

Those of us who have worked in food service have voiced our desire to spit in an asshole customers food (although in this case there was no indication that the cop was being a crusty), but have avoided doing so because of situations like this. While I think the employee should be the one getting sued, and of course fired, the thing that got me about that article is it could open the door for frivolous lawsuits against food service in general.

While I understand there are legit cases where food has been tampered with (just click the Mealbreaker link in the article to see what I mean) if this thing gets approved people are going to start suing if their food "tastes funny" even if it hasn't been tampered with. So while I believe the employee should be the only one getting in trouble, I can already see the shitstorm of copycat lawsuits popping up in the next few months.

[Chicajojobe]

I do not believe it's ever okay to spit in, or otherwise contaminate or mishandle food you know someone else is going to eat. Yes, even if the custy is a giant asshole!

However, I sincerely hope Deputy Bylsma did not waste taxpayer money DNA typing a burger loogie. I'm not very optimistic that he paid himself, though, because I know how much those tests cost!