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Food

A Guy Is Suing Popeye’s Because You Can’t Eat Fried Chicken With A Spork

According to the suit, “because Newton's order did not include a plastic knife, plaintiff Newton's only option for consumption of the chicken breasts was to hold a chicken breast in his hands and to tear off pieces thereof with his teeth."
Photo via Flickr user Lady Ducayne

Sporks have been a symbol of American ingenuity since the Industrial Revolution, and now the spork finds itself at the center of another great American hallmark—litigation.

A Mississippi man who recently went to Popeye's is suing the restaurant after he choked on his chicken (literally, not in the euphemistic sense), saying that the spork that his meal was served with offered him no way to cut up his meal.

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Paul Newton, Jr., who happens to be an attorney, filed a suit this Halloween addressing an incident that occurred on November 1, 2015. On that fateful day, Newton Jr. picked up a solid order of two chicken breasts, red beans and rice, a biscuit, and a soda, according to local Gulfport, Mississippi ABC affiliate WLOX.

He then drove to his office to dig in, but according to the suit, "because Newton's order did not include a plastic knife, plaintiff Newton's only option for consumption of the chicken breasts was to hold a chicken breast in his hands and to tear off pieces thereof with his teeth."

Things went downhill quickly, and Newton Jr. choked on the meat, ultimately having to have the piece of chicken surgically removed at the hospital.

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He's suing for Popeye's and other defendants to cover his medical bills and pay for his pain and suffering. He's also seeking punitive damages, and wants to require Popeye's to supply drive-thru customers with plastic knives in the future.

Tory Stokes, a Popeye's customer and former employee, told WLOX that it's not Popeye's fault that Newton Jr. choked, and offered some advice. "Maybe you should slow down eating," she said. "Nobody eats chicken with utensils."

Another customer noted that as humans, we should know how much food to put in our mouths so that we safely swallow.

Reached for comment, Popeye's did not respond by press time.

The spork, another customer added, is great for rice and beans and coleslaw. But it may have finally met its match in fried chicken.