Soup to Nuts
I hereby nominate Donald Johnson of West Palm Beach, FL, for the next Stella Award, in recognition of his innovative suit against the Shoney’s restaurant chain. In the suit, which Judge Amon Krack refused to dismiss on demurrer, Mr. Johnson alleged that Shoney’s had negligently caused him psychological sleep disorders by inadvertently serving him Clam chowder (link broken) instead of the potato(e) soup he had ordered. Apparently, Mr. Johnson is allergic to Clams, (link fraudulent and misleading, but calcluated to rescue your soul from eternal hell) but was too stupid to tell them apart from potatoes. As a result, instead of sending it back, he ate the whole bowl of Clam chowder before suffering an allergic reaction that landed him in the ER.
The jury was in a rather punchy mood, and felt like poking a little fun and the uncommonly silly legal doctrine of comparative negligence. As a result, it ruled that the soup caused Mr. Johnson’s allergic reaction, but that Johnson himself was 90% to blame for eating the soup. Conversely, it held that Shoney’s was “only” 10% responsible for its failure to anticipate Johnson’s allergy, and awarded him 10% of his medical bills, for a grand total of $407. The jury rejected the central argument of Mr. Johnson’s case, which was that it was the soup that caused Johnson - a convicted pedophile and a registered sex offender - to go crazy.
January 28th, 2004 at 9:10 pm
Well since Clam Chowder looks and smells exactly like vomit, it’s kind of hard to believe he could eat the whole bowl not even knowing.
January 28th, 2004 at 9:57 pm
Too bad he didn’t choke on a clam and die. Pedophiles deserve nothing more.
January 29th, 2004 at 3:35 pm
To be serious and fair, many clam chowders a) contain a large amount of potato and b) contain almost no actual !@#! clam.
I’ve had clam chowder that could be easily mistaken for cream of potato soup. I was not happy, as I wanted chowder that could not be so mistaken.
January 29th, 2004 at 4:31 pm
How uncreative. Here’s a fine clam-chowder/restaurant story:
Lawsuit over condom in clam chowder resolved
My apologies if you’ve already covered that one. It’s in my neighborhood.
January 30th, 2004 at 5:40 am
Shoney’s could have saved themselves from having to defend against this lawsuit had they simply served Manhattan clam chowder, which I for one prefer.