Bloody fingertip found in salad at Applebee’s, woman claims

A pregnant Atascadero woman says she found a piece of bloody fingertip in her salad at Applebee’s in Paso Robles last month and has filed a claim against the restaurant chain.

According to her attorney, Eric Traut of Santa Ana, Cathleen Martin and her family visited the Applebee’s restaurant in the 2300 block of Theatre Drive on Dec. 20. She ordered the Chinese chicken salad, according to Traut, and found the small slice of a fingertip inside – but not before she, her husband and their young child had each eaten from the dish.

“It was so gross,” Martin said in a news release sent by the firm. “I’m on pins and needles worrying about what my family might have been exposed to.”

Martin said she was particularly alarmed because she is expecting her second child in March.

Upon finding the fingertip, the family says it notified restaurant management, who confirmed the fingertip belonged to an employee at the location. A letter sent to the family from Applebee’s counsel nine days later said management, by law, could not require the cook to undergo any medical tests.

The claim, which is the first step in filing a civil lawsuit, seeks unspecified damages for emotional distress, medical expenses for testing and lost income.

Tom Linafelt, media spokesman for Applebee’s Grill and Bar, did not immediately return a request for comment.

On Thursday, Traut said his clients have all undergone medical testing since the incident. He said his firm is in communication with the chain’s corporate office, who have been cooperative and are in the process of asking the employee to voluntarily agree to urine, blood and other tests to determine if the family is faces any health risks.

This is not the first time Traut has represented a person who found an undesirable item in their restaurant fare. In 2009, he represented a couple who discovered a used condom in their French onion soup at a Mission Viejo Claim Jumper, according to The OC Weekly.

“A body part in a food item is typically very rare. More often we see calls for foreign objects in food, things that break teeth, cut throats,” Traut said, noting one past case where a stainless steel screw from machinery was found in an ice cream sandwich and caused injury to the consumer. “It makes your skin crawl.”

Asked about past cases of people planting items in food in order to fraudulently make a quick buck, Traut called that “rare” and said restaurant management had already confirmed the employee injured himself while making the salad.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Bloody fingertip found in salad at Applebee’s, woman claims."