Man sues Domino’s over wire bristles left in pizza
Published 3:00 pm Thursday, December 18, 2014
Staff reports
Mike Norman got something he did not ask for in the Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza takeout his wife ordered from the Domino’s Pizza in Milton on Sept. 19 — metal bristles.
Remnants of grill scourings that punctured his intestines and put the 50-year-old Boeing product manager in an emergency room.
Where doctors took two 1½-inch fine-gauge wire bristles from his stomach, according to a complaint Norman and his wife, Diane Norman, filed in Pierce County Superior Court two weeks ago against the company,
The couple are asking not only for damages related to injuries and loss of income, they hope to warn food-service employees — and consumers — of the dangers inherent in scouring ovens and grills with wire-bristle brushes.
Norman said he took one bite of the pizza and felt a “sharp tearing” in his throat. Later, he said, he felt a dull pain in his gut. Doctors told his wife that one of the wires had pierced his small bowel. Three months later, there’s a 5-inch scar on Norman’s abdomen.
Carpe Diem Pizza Inc., which does business as Domino’s Pizza 7047, in Milton, Pierce County, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Officials with the Consumer Product Safety Commission report multiple cases of injuries from wire bristles embedded in food. The agency is investigating the issue to decide whether to issue a consumer warning, product recall or other regulatory action.
Seattle food-safety lawyer Bill Marler represents the couple.
“After we filed the complaint, we got a phone call from another gentleman who lives in Auburn,” Marler said. “He ordered the same kind of pizza from the same Dominos Pizza within minutes of Mrs. Norman and was also exposed to wire bristles in it. This gentleman bit into it and noticed it right away.”
The Normans filed a complaint with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. County health workers then inspected the restaurant and found that workers at the Domino’s Pizza restaurant, at 2800 Milton Way in Milton, routinely used wire brushes to clean the ovens — and that some of the brushes showed obvious signs of wear.
