A Lawyer Threatened to Sue a Texas Restaurant for Running Out of Soup

Anybody who has ever been ankle-deep in a steamy mess of bouillabaisse—or who has really stared deep into the unrelenting abyss that is a pot of quivering menudo—knows that good soup can make a person commit horrifically unspeakable acts. And being denied the soup you so crave? Fuggedaboutit.

Dwain Downing, a lawyer, knows what it feels like not to get his soup. He recently dropped by Our Place Restaurant in Mansfield, Texas. He ordered the Saturday Special, which includes an entrée, two sides, and soup. When he wasn't served the soup, Downing became upset—like, really, really upset. So upset in fact that he fired off a demand letter, claiming breach of contract and deceptive trade practices. He requested damages in the amount of $2.25—plus lawyer's fees of $250.

Benji Arslanovksi, owner of the restaurant, says that although he has worked in the restaurant business his entire adult life, he hasn't seen anything like this: "Not this. Definitely a first," he said. "I mean the soup is great," Arslanovski said. "People love it." But, he says, it's pretty well understood that the soup is a freebie. In fact, the menu says the soup is available only "while supplies last."

When the restaurant posted the legal letter to its Facebook page, the shit really hit the proverbial fan.

Fifteen hundred comments later (as of our publication time), Downing says he is being cyber bullied and probably should have dealt with the dearth of soup differently, looking back now. "I would've been upset, but I probably wouldn't have written the letter," Downing said during an interview with the local ABC affiliate on Monday. Downing has withdrawn his lawsuit, he says, partly because of cyber bullying and threats that he says resulted from the exposure. "I didn't put it on social media," Downing said. "I didn't intend for it to become this way. This place was rude, very rude. Cyber bullies have threatened my life."

The restaurant is now collecting canned soup donations for a local food bank in exchange for 10 percent off customers' bills.

That must be some damn good soup.