PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A local man has filed lawsuits against five fast-food restaurants in the greater Portland area within the last year and a half, claiming that he found a dead bug in his meals at each different business.
In the lawsuits, obtained by KOIN 6 News, 63-year-old Southeast Portland man William Smith states that McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box and two Starbucks locations all served him food containing an insect carcass approximately 0.3 inches long on varying dates between July of 2021 and January of 2023.
Smith is seeking $50,000 in compensatory damages.
The food items allegedly served to Smith vary from lawsuit to lawsuit. However, each suit uniformly states Smith found a dead bug in his food and showed it to a man named Edwin Gunter, who then took a photo of the bug with a Motorola 5G Moto Ace phone before Smith vomited “uncontrollably.”
“While eating the taco served to him by Taco Bell, plaintiff noticed that attached to the inside of the taco, was an insect carcass approximately .30 of an inch in length,” Smith’s suit against Taco Bell suit reads. “Plaintiff immediately showed the insect carcass and taco to Edwin Gunter who then photographed the taco and dead insect using his Motorola 5G Moto Ace phone. Plaintiff, upon realizing he had been consuming taco contaminated with dead insect particles, began vomiting uncontrollably.”
KOIN 6 contacted Smith by telephone on Tuesday to ask about the pending lawsuits. He declined to comment.
On April 22, 2022, the Multnomah County Circuit Court sent Smith a notice of intent to dismiss his case against McDonald’s Inc. for failing to provide proof of service. The case was subsequently dismissed by Presiding Judge Judith H. Matarazzo on Aug. 2, 2022.
KOIN 6 News spoke with an attorney representing Taco Bell about the lawsuits. Taco Bell declined to comment on the matter.
