Posted on 04/13/2011 1:39:20 PM PDT by Mountain Bike Vomit Carnage
An Oak Park couple is suing the Applebee’s restaurant chain after their toddler was inadvertently served a margarita instead of apple juice.
Taylor Dill-Reese and Dominic Wilson filed a lawsuit in Oakland County Circuit Court seeking in excess of $25,000 in damages after their 15-month-old son, Dominic Wilson Jr., consumed alcohol on Friday at the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar on 14 Mile in Madison Heights.
“We’re asking for some accountability,” said Southfield attorney William Stern, representing the parents and the boy. “This could have turned out very badly.”
The boy’s parents had ordered him a kid’s meal – a small hamburger, fries and apple juice in a sippy cup, then noticed him acting peculiarly. The father tasted the drink and realized it contained alcohol. A police investigation found the “apple juice” was actually margarita mix containing alcohol. Police say the bottles were mislabeled.
The child was taken to William Beaumont Hospital, where lab tests showed traces of alcohol in his system. The child has since recovered and is at home with his parents.
The incident made national headlines. Applebee's has apologized, and pledged to put into place safeguards to prevent future accidents. A spokesperson did not immediately return phone calls this afternoon.
The suit filed Tuesday seeks compensation for emotional distress and well as reimbursement for medical expenses. The case has been assigned to Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Nanci Grant.
Why would you advertise your phobia like that?
;)
If I can eat my own cooking...
Applebee’s is the only restaurant I have ever been to that I heard employee sing a substitute happy Birthday song the was enjoyable.
Wow. If I were the restaurant manager I would have charged them more. Margaritas are way more expensive than apple juice.
premixing is illegal in MI.
serving alcohol out of any container that is not it’s original packaging is illegal.
combine with serving a minor, that’s 3 infractions and MLCC can revoke their liquor license.
MI ping
I don’t know if there was tequila in it or not, but usually they have a mix and then add the booze after. But I do know that serving out of original packaging is not exactly easy when you’re making drinks quickly. You have to put it in the plastic bottles that are easier to fit in the rack.
How many toddlers would have drank a margarita without making some awful face or spitting it out? None of my four children have wanted to drink any alcoholic beverages because they can’t even get past the smell of them (which is good because the oldest is still 8 years from being old enough to legally drink).
Of my two who go up for Communion, only the oldest will partake of the cup. Her little brother almost spit the wine out the first time he tasted it at his FHC practice last year, LOL.
(To the original poster, interesting screen name!)
Margarita mix is quite a bit different from a margarita. We always took a quick sip of the drinks brought to our kids because having worked in a restaurant years before we knew that mixups happen.
My bet is on a setup by the parents.
Sure looks like it, dunnit?
Ha, that’s only the first semester now-a-days.
Applebee’s is not exactly a bar. And it is definitely a family-type place. Very interesting new menu, BTW. Had lunch there yesterday.
My daughter got Salmonella poisoning after eating there when she was 21. She was also 7 months pregnant and ended up spending a couple of days in the hospital.
Don't eat the chicken.
Margarita mix is almost always green, bright lime green. Aple juice is almost always golden. Either no one was paying attention (restaraurant or parents) or Applebees has some cool new Margaritas or apple juice flavors. And this lawyer isnt looking for accountability, he’s looking for $25,0000 because the restaraunt and the parents both failed to notice green apple juice.
Feels good to have it out in the open, huh?
Confession is good for the soul, my brother;)
Unlikely they re looking out for the child’s welfare at all. The want $$$ for a new Escalade, trips to Cancun, marijuana and cocaine.
Who puts booze in a child’s sippy cup? Didn’t the person who was poring it notice? Just askin’!???
My son owned a restaurant and if the waitress came to the bar to order drinks for a table and a sippy cup was on her tray, the bartender would certainly ask questions. Something smells. Nobody I know orders a cocktail in a sippy cup. It’s nuts I tell you!
When my youngest was 14 she was served a virgin daiquiri that was not virgin. Smell test by dad was all it took. No lawsuit and no yelling. People make mistakes.
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