truesee's Blog

In a world where people sue McDonald's for serving coffee too hot, a Philadelphia woman has sued a Dunkin' Donuts for serving coffee she says was too sweet - so sweet it sent her into a diabetic coma.

Danielle Jordan, 47, of Oxford Avenue near Langdon Street in Crescentville, filed a personal injury lawsuit against the Dunkin' Donuts on Frankford Avenue near Bridge Street and Northeast Donut Shops Management Corp.

Jordan is seeking unspecified damages after she claims she ordered coffee with artificial sweetener on June 15, 2009, but the server put sugar into the brew, according to the suit, which was first reported this morning by the Courthouse News Service.

After downing the drink, Jordan contends, she suffered light-headedness, dizziness, numbness of the extremities and a diabetic shock that resulted in an emergency trip to the hospital, court papers say. As a result, she had to increase her diabetic medication and "sustained a loss of life's enjoyment" due to Dunkin' Donuts' "defective product." Jordan and her attorney, Kenneth M. Rodgers, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Leshia Evans, legal liaison who handles lawsuits for 34 Dunkin' Donuts in the Philadelphia region, said today she couldn't comment on the case.

But she noted "we encounter thousands and thousands of customers on a daily basis. We don't provide a customer with anything they don't request. If they request a medium coffee, they will get a medium coffee. If you fail to request a sugar substitute, we can't read your mind. We sell doughnuts, not crystal balls."

In Evans' 14 years in her job, she has seen more than her fair share of unusual lawsuits. She recounted one lawsuit about three years ago, in which a woman claimed she burned her tongue on Dunkin' Donuts coffee so hot it must have been tainted by terrorists. That plaintiff lost her suit.

Valedictorian fights judge's ban on graduation prayer

Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The valedictorian of a high school in a San Antonio suburb where a judge has banned formal prayers at graduation ceremonies on Saturday is fighting for an opportunity to lead the crowd in prayer.

On Thursday, the North Texas-based Liberty Institute, a nonprofit that describes itself as seeking to limit government and promote Judeo-Christian values, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the valedictorian of Castroville's Medina Valley High School, Angela Hildenbrand.

"After all that I've been taught about the freedoms of speech, expression and religion in our country, I am disappointed that my liberties are being infringed upon by this court's ruling to censor my speech," Hildenbrand said at a press conference at the Alamo.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ruled on Tuesday that the Medina Valley School District may not proceed with plans to include an invocation or benediction at the ceremony, saying that doing so would make it sound like the school is "sponsoring a religion."

He said student speakers may reference God in their remarks.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to overturn the order.

"This is part of an ongoing attempt to purge God from the public setting, while at the same time demanding from the court increased yielding to all things agnostic and atheistic," Abbott said.

He said Congress begins each session with a prayer to God, and Biery's ruling would allow a student to "bend over in honor of Mecca," but not lead a prayer to the Christian God.

The case has been seized by both sides in the ongoing debate over references to religion in schools and in public places.

The judge's ruling followed a lawsuit against the district by agnostics Christa and Danny Schultz saying their son might not take part in graduation if he were forced to participate in religious activities.

Ayesha Kahn, an attorney for Americans United for Church and State, which represents the Schultzes, said earlier this week that the district "has been flouting the law for decades."

But some residents of the town of about 3,000 about 20 miles west of San Antonio, which still strongly retains the flavor of the French Catholics who founded it in the 1850s, object to halting the community tradition of invocation at graduation.

"My best friend last year said the prayer, and it was really cool that my best friend, who I have known since I was three years old, said the prayer, and now it turns out that she may be the last one to ever say the prayer at Medina Valley," Kelsey Johnson, who graduated from the high school last year, told Reuters.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Jerry Norton)

 

John Taggart for News

 

One middle school group stirred up controversy when they visited Hooters on a class trip.

And it's not because they ate in a restaurant without crab cakes.

The Berwick Middle School students were visiting the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Inner Harbor when they split into groups for lunch. While there are many similarly priced options in the area, between 15 and 20 students ended up at the restaurant, which is as well known for its busty waitresses as its chicken wings, the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise reported.

So far, though, no one's had any complaints about the trip -- Superintendent Wayne Brookhart said none of the parents complained about the restaurant choice - though he did wish that they had chosen another spot to dine in.

On parenting websites, most commenters didn't seem to have a problem with the field trip's choice of food - with some even saying they took their kids their from time to time.

"We eat at Hooters at least once a month. What's amusing is to see those lovely ladies gaga over our kids and spend less time with the oogling manbeasts," one commenter wrote on Cafemom.com.  Another mom disagreed, though, saying that she disliked exposing her children to the stereotypes the restaurant invoked.

"Hooters perpetuates a problem: that only skinny women with big boobs can be attractive," she wrote. "They only hire women who fit a certain model and because of their hiring practices, not the uniform, I will not eat there.

"I would have a big problem with my daughters being taken there to eat."

The group is not the first school group to visit the controversial chain. In 2009, a veteran Arizona teacher was placed on leave after taking choral students to the restaurant while they were on a trip to perform at Arizona Center.

"There could have been a choice that might have been more appropriate, given that it was a school-day event with a school employee in charge," the school district spokesperson said at the time.

A Hooters spokesperson told the AP that the chain often hosts groups ranging from sports teams to church organizations with teens and young children.

1:48 p.m. CDT, June 2, 2011

Graphic: Helping us eat