Primanti Brothers Restaurant and Bar has been named as the defendant in a lawsuit filed in Monongalia County Circuit, which claims a man bit through a screw that was inside a sandwich he had ordered from the establishment.
According to the complaint, on August 5, 2020, Ghassan Ghorayeb, M.D., purchased a Big Bros Ham and Cheese with fries and double eggs at the Morgantown location of the Pittsburgh-based company and took the sandwich home with him.
While making his way through the sandwich, Ghorayeb says he “unknowingly bit through a hard metal object lodged inside.” He spit out the hard object immediately to find a large black screw.
Ghorayeb claims he immediately called the restaurant and talked to the manager, informing him he thought he may have cracked his tooth. The manager apparently stated, “I remember that order. I did it myself.”
As a result of biting down on the screw, Ghorayeb says he sustained injuries to his teeth which included a loose upper canine, a chipped tooth, and a broken crown, all of which required “extensive and invasive dental procedures which would not and should not have been otherwise incurred,” the complaint said.
Attorney for Ghorayeb, J. Bryan Edwards, of Cranston and Edwards, cited in the complaint that West Virginia law specifically states that a “manufacturer, packer, or bottler of food products is liable to a consumer thereof for injury caused by unwholesomeness or unfitness of such product.”
Edwards continued saying the sandwich as prepared and sold by Primanti’s was unreasonably dangerous and not fit for human consumption due to the screw lodged inside it.
It was also mentioned in the complaint, that the Primanti’s in Morgantown had a similar incident occur with another customer in close proximity in time to Ghorayeb’s experience.
The lawsuit also claims Primanti’s is in breach of implied warranty of merchantability under West Virginia code 46-2-314, a warranty that the goods, like Ghorayeb’s sandwich, shall be merchantable is implied in a contract for their sale if the seller is a merchant with respect to goods of that kind. Under this section, the serving for value of food or drink to be consumed either on the premises or elsewhere is a sale.
Ghorayeb and Edwards also claim negligence from Primanti’s. According to the complaint, Ghorayeb’s side says as a professional business engaged in the retail food establishment, Primanti’s had the duty, through its employees, agents, and members, to carry out its operations in a prudent and work-like manner.
The complaint continues, claiming Primanti’s was on notice that forgeign objects had been found in the food products which they sold. With this knowledge, Primanti’s had a heightened duty to carefully prepare and inspect its food products.
Ghorayeb sustained serious injuries, incurred enormous pain, discomfort, suffering, and lost time at work, Edwards wrote in the complaint. For his injuries and suffering, Ghorayeb is seeking compensatory damages from Primanti’s which will fully compensate him for his medical bills, lost work and wages, annoyance and inconvenience, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life during his period of pain and discomfort, and other currently unnamed special and general damages to be set forth later.
A request was made for comment from Primanti Bros in regards to the lawsuit’s allegations, but no response had been received by press time.
