Ohio Supreme Court Rules on ‘Boneless Wings’ Misunderstanding

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that consumers should not expect “boneless wings” to be completely free of bones. This decision came after Michael Berkheimer’s lawsuit against Wings on Brookwood in Hamilton, Ohio. Berkheimer suffered severe medical issues when a bone lodged in his throat after eating a dish advertised as boneless wings.

While dining with his wife and friends, Berkheimer ordered boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce. After consuming a piece of meat, he experienced difficulty swallowing. Three days later, he was hospitalized with fever and an inability to keep food down. Doctors found a long, thin bone had torn his esophagus, causing an infection.

Berkheimer filed a lawsuit against the restaurant, its supplier, and the chicken farm, alleging negligence for not warning about potential bones in the boneless wings. In a close 4-3 decision, the court stated that the term “boneless wings” describes a cooking style, emphasizing that it’s widely known chickens have bones. The high court upheld the dismissal of Berkheimer’s lawsuit by the lower courts.

“A diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers,” wrote Justice Joseph T. Deters for the majority.

Dissenting justices criticized this reasoning, suggesting a jury should have determined whether the restaurant was negligent. Justice Michael P. Donnelly argued against the ruling, citing common consumer expectations regarding the term “boneless.”

“The question must be asked: Does anyone really believe that the parents in this country who feed their young children boneless wings or chicken tenders or chicken nuggets or chicken fingers expect bones to be in the chicken? Of course they don’t,” Justice Donnelly wrote in dissent. “When they read the word ‘boneless,’ they think that it means ‘without bones,’ as do all sensible people.”