Thread: Judge Judy and 'The Case of the Sizzling Fajitas', so God Help Us

In the US of course where it's not only older white women suing for heat-related injuries at food outlets . . .

Man can’t sue Applebee’s after getting burned while praying over fajitas

It was a Thursday in March of 2010 when a man named Hiram Jimenez arrived at an Applebee’s in Southampton, N.J., He and his brother Rafael slid into booth. Soon, a waitress arrived. Jimenez ordered a plate of fajitas and passed the next minutes chatting with his brother. Then appeared the fajitas. According to court documents, they were served in a “sizzling skillet,” and the waitress placed it “right in front of [him].”

The waitress told him to “enjoy your meal,” court records show. She didn’t say anything more and departed.

That was when Jimenez made a decision he would regret. The food looked to be “real dark” and “real hot,” but Jimenez nonetheless “reached over and said let’s have a prayer” to his brother. He lowered his head “close to the table,” and then heard a sizzle and pop. Pain knifed his face. He felt burns in his left eye and on his face, and tried to push the food away, but instead just pushed it onto his lap. In the hectic moment, he “pulled” something in his right arm, though it’s unclear what.

A manager was summoned. The men filed a report, documenting “hot food order burned me after grease popped causing several burns to face, neck and arms.” None of the burns, however, would scar.

Jimenez was so upset by fajita fiasco that he decided to sue Applebee’s, starting a years-long legal kerfuffle that only reached its resolution this week with an appellate court ruling against Jimenez. His complaint alleged servers should have warned him about the “sizzling” fajitas, and their negligence left him with “serious and permanent personal injuries for which he sought damages.”

But that attempt, it turned out, has been as successful as that fajitas meal. A New Jersey court ruled that he can’t sue the American food chain conglomerate, citing the fact that it was pretty clear that those fajitas were dangerous to pray over when Jimenez decided to do so.

Applebee’s, the ruling said, “had no duty to warn against a danger that is open and obvious.”

Jimenez wasn’t going down that easy. He appealed. And this week, a two-judge panel ruled against him. It said the danger of the sizzling hot platter of fajitas was “self-evident,” and, as such, Applebee’s is off the hook.

“The food was sizzling hot,” the ruling read, “and should be approached with due care.”

Man can?t sue Applebee?s after getting burned while praying over fajitas - The Washington Post

Coincidentally, we had dinner at the TGIF down the road and my youngest had the ribeye, medium-rare; my wife had exceptional pasta with fresh wild mushrooms and I had fajitas . . . luckily I didn't feel the need tp pray

I don't believe it. A 'common-sense' ruling coming out of a US court, unbelievable.

That's why I posted it . . . quite extraordinary

Did his mummy never teach him to never touch the top of the stove... mine did, resulting in a burn on my finger. I was five. Never again.