Every morning I have the same thing for breakfast, greek yogurt and crunchy cereal.
This morning I was eating and I felt the most excruciating pain.
I bit down on an almond shell baked into my cereal.
It had impaled the pointy end into my gum and chipped off a molar.
The molar had a filling in it from years ago and it is now missing the back part of the tooth. My gum is extremely sore and hurts worse than the tooth.
I hate dentists and they cause me severe stress.
I really do not want to go but I will if I have to prove my case.
The cereal is a national brand of healthy, all natural cereal.
I contacted the cereal manufacturer immediately.
I took pictures of the shell, box, upc code and manufacturer’s code and expiration date.
Can I settle this case without going to the dentist?
Can I get pain and suffering for the gum being stuck with the shell and chipping my molar? Thanks for any info you can give.
Disclaimer: Our response is not formal legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is generic legal information based on the very limited information provided. Do not rely upon the information in our response, or anywhere else on this site, when deciding the proper course of a legal matter. Always get a personalized case review from a local attorney.
Answer
Dear Anonymous,
Because your primary complaint is an extremely sore gum you probably don’t have much, if any case against the retailer or manufacturer of the product. In the alternative, if your claim against the retailer or cereal manufacturer includes compensation for the broken tooth as well, you have a more substantial claim.
Here’s the “rub” as they say…
To be able to prove you are injured and what amount will be fair compensation for the injury, you will need to have some type of dental verification of the type of injury you sustained and the cost to repair it.
You can’t just tell the manufacturer to send you an amount of money you determined was fair for your frustration and anxiety over the incident. You can be assured the manufacturer will not pay that amount.
But if you do secure credible dental verification and the retailer or manufacturer settles your claim based on the dentist’s cost of repair, and you subsequently receive the money, there isn’t any requirement you use the money to go back to the dentist. You can just keep the money.
You may be able to have the manufacturer compensate you without dental verification of your injury, based on the soreness of your gum and the broken tooth.
But that amount, sans dental verification, will probably be not much more than a “nuisance” amount of a couple of hundred dollars or less… possibly a few coupons for discounts on future purchases of their product.
Learn more here: Foreign Object in Food Claims
The above is general information. Laws change frequently, and across jurisdictions. You should get a personalized case evaluation from a licensed attorney.
Find a local attorney to give you a free case review here, or call 888-972-0892.
We wish you the best with your claim,
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