Lawsuits blame fast-food burgers for food poisoning, allergic reaction

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Beware burgers across Pennsylvania, two recently filed lawsuits against fast-food chains suggest.

One lawsuit blames an Allegheny County Checkers & Rally’s for putting mustard on a burger despite the customer’s allergy, while another filed in Delaware County alleges a couple of cheeseburgers from Burger King made a woman violently ill.

“Shortly after consuming the food, Plaintiff experienced severe gastrointestinal symptoms including uncontrollable vomiting, abdominal pain and fever,” says Tierra Brown’s case, filed Nov. 19 against Burger King.

Brown’s lawsuit also names the franchisee companies at the Burger King in Upper Darby at 490 69th St., where she bought two cheeseburgers and two orders of French fries in May but ended up in the hospital for three days.

She says she sustained an acute kidney injury as a result of Campylobacter, bacteria that cause campylobacteriosis. Medical testing confirmed it was to blame for her illness, and she’s blaming Burger King.

“Defendants knew or should have known that failure to properly cook, store or handle food posed a foreseeable risk of bacterial contamination to consumers such as Plaintiff,” says the lawsuit, filed by Austin Freundlich of Freundlich & Littman.

In Pittsburgh, Sharon Gore says she DoorDashed a Rallyburger in August with instructions that there be no mustard on it because of her severe mustard allergy.

“Believing the burger was safe to consume, Plaintiff bit into the burger and immediately tasted mustard,” her slawuit says. “Thereafter, Plaintiff discovered mustard on the burger, which was concealed by and mixed in with other various sauces.”

The reaction was immediate, she says. It caused vision loss, anaphylaxis, hives, itching, anxiety and depression, the lawsuit says. Some conditions could be permanent.

“Defendant knew that Plaintiff had a mustard allergy, appreciated the risk of including mustard on the burger, and recklessly disregarded said risk,” says the lawsuit, filed by Alexander Stephenson of Woomer & Talarico.