Fillet Sandwich Is Plaintiff’s Bone of Contention

Claude Allan Hart, an unemployed truck driver, was eating a boneless McChicken sandwich at a McDonald’s restaurant in Orange when he crunched on something hard. It was, according to Hart, a one-inch chicken bone that dislodged the right side of his jaw and caused a painful disorder that will require surgery to correct.

Hart, 42, sued the McDonald’s franchise owner, the chicken patty manufacturer and the trucking company that delivered it, alleging negligence as well as a violation of the “expressed warranty” of a boneless sandwich.

All three companies refused to settle. So on Wednesday, the lawsuit went to trial in Orange County Superior Court and now it is up to a 12-member jury to decide the case of the chicken sandwich that bit back.

Hart’s attorney, Johnna J. Hansen, is seeking $40,000 in medical expenses, along with compensation for pain and suffering she said her client has endured since the 1989 “chewing accident.”

But the defendants say the allegations are all wrong. The attorney representing the restaurant’s owner, Dunkleman Enterprises, and the patty-maker and the trucking company, said Hart suffered from a jaw ailment before he bit into the $1.99 sandwich.

Defense attorney Michael E. Wenzel told jurors that Hart’s jaw problems were caused by years of dental neglect and that Hart had not visited a dentist for 12 years before the incident.

The trial, which is expected to include testimony from medical experts, Hart’s former roommate and employees from the restaurant, is expected to last seven days.

Lon Hurwitz, president of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Assn., said it is unusual for such a case to make it to trial.

“There’s a need to analyze the propriety of taking these cases to full-blown trial because when it costs $4,000 a day to run a courtroom, you have to start determining whether the value of the case will exceed the cost to taxpayers and the attorneys involved,” Hurwitz said.

Typically, trial is the last option “when one side feels they are dealing with an unreasonable opponent,” Hurwitz said.

The dispute began Sept. 29, 1989, when Hart ordered his usual lunch of large fries, a chocolate milkshake and a McChicken sandwich at the McDonald’s at 606 N. Tustin Ave.

Hansen said the bone was hidden in the breaded chicken patty, and lodged vertically into Hart’s jaw when he bit into it. The next day, his jaw was sore, swollen and made “popping and clicking sounds” whenever he opened it, Hansen told jurors during opening statements. Soon thereafter, she said, her client’s ailment was diagnosed as temporomandibular joint dysfunction, a malfunctioning of the hinge mechanism in the jaw.

Since then, Hart said, he can only eat soft foods such as oatmeal, cereal and peanut butter on bread. He blames his slurred speech on the chicken bone and said he lost nearly 20 pounds because of poor eating habits.

Once a backup singer in a rock band, Hart said he can no longer carry a tune and suffers from frequent head and neck pains. He said he takes 10 Advil a day and cannot open his mouth wider than an inch without tremendous pain.

Hansen said her client has accumulated $9,200 in unpaid medical bills and needs a $30,000 operation to fix his dislocated jaw.

But the defense attorney said the mishap could not have caused the damage that Hart described.

“The problem was not aggravated or occasioned by biting down on a bone,” Wenzel said.