A lawsuit filed against Burger King and Impossible Foods, alleging negligence and breach of warranty after the plaintiff reportedly consumed shards of glass from a meatless “Impossible Whopper”, survived a motion to dismiss this week. The ruling was issued by a federal judge in Virginia. The plaintiff, Lillie Howard, represented by Charlottesville-based law firm Stone & Woodrow, accused the vegetarian burger manufacturer and Nashville Quality, the Burger King owner-operator, of being responsible for the mishap.
Impossible Foods Inc. (IFI) contested the claims, arguing that Howard’s allegations “concede it is just as probable that the damages were caused by someone other than IFI”, indicating a lack of clarity over what IFI did or didn’t do to cause the damages. Hence, they argued, the complaint did not form a plausible claim for relief.
However, District Judge Thomas T. Cullen from the Western District of Virginia disagreed, stating that IFI was merging the burden of proof with the pleading requirements. Rather than having to prove the potential of damage from another party at this stage, Howard only needed to show a plausible claim for relief, which, according to Judge Cullen, had been achieved.
More details of the case can be found in the full report from Law.com.