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Jury's verdict leaves man with bad taste in his mouth
By Joe Myers/REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER
LEWISBURG - A Greenbrier County man failed Thursday in his attempt to collect damages from Burger King for allegedly serving him a filthy hamburger.
The verdict came at the end of a three-day civil trial in Greenbrier County Circuit Court.
Jim King testified that on June 21, 2000, he purchased two Whoppers from the Burger King franchise at Fairlea and took them to the nearby Heilig-Meyers furniture store where his wife worked.
"I took a bite out of it," the truck driver told the jury. "It tasted funny. I started to get sick, and I ran to the bathroom and threw up."
King returned to the lunch room.
"I took the top bun off it. I saw something brown mixed in with the fixings of the burger. It smelled real bad. It smelled like crap. It looked like something ... how can I phrase this? ... like you're going to use the bathroom."
King took the hamburger to the Greenbrier County Health Department for testing. Laboratory analyst Ron Ramirez testified it had a high fecal coliform content.
King testified the incident changed his perspective on fast food.
"I pretty much eat at home now," he said. "It's just the thought of getting something contaminated, having to worry about my food all the time.
"Just driving by the store, it reminds me. I can taste it all over again. The smell comes back. Or if I see (a Burger King ad) on TV, it brings everything back - the taste, the smell, everything."
One of the Burger King employees must have put feces on the hamburger, King's attorney, Richard Ford Jr., told the jury.
But several Burger King employees denied any knowledge of the alleged act.
Manager Debbie Ward testified the company has strict policies on food preparation and would not tolerate such behavior. "They'd be fired," she said.
"It could not have happened at this facility," said John MacCorkle, attorney for Burger-King and franchisee ERW Inc. He suggested someone at Heilig-Meyers may have tampered with the hamburger.
But two Heilig-Meyers employees testified no one touched the hamburger during the short period it was unattended in the lunch room while King went to get his wife.
After an hour's deliberation, the six-member jury ruled Burger King was not liable.
This was the second time the Fairlea restaurant had been sued over alleged contaminated food. In October 2001, a Fayette County woman sued the company after allegedly contracting salmonella from a chicken sandwich. That lawsuit is still pending.
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