The Ohio State Supreme Court has made an astonishing ruling in the case of a man who was left with horrific injuries after making a sickening discovery in his boneless chicken wings.
Michael Berkheimer was enjoying his 'usual' meal of boneless chicken with his wife and some friends from Wings on Brookwood in Hamilton in 2016 before he felt something in his throat.
At first, Berkheimer ignored the sensation and told Fox 19 he just assumed the wing went 'down the wrong pipe' - bit it turned out to be much more sinister when he began feeling feverish three days later.
After being dashed to the emergency room, doctors discovered a piece of a wishbone from one of the wings had become lodged in his throat and punctured his esophagus - leaving anything he ate from then on to fall directly into his chest cavity, where it caused an infection.
He then suffered a heart attack, which collapsed one of his lungs, and was placed in a coma twice before attempting to sue the restaurant and its suppliers for negligence.
'I had bacteria buildup in my chest cavity the size of a softball laying on my heart,' Berkheimer recounted.
His attorney, Rob Stokar, said the judge dismissed their first suit, but they appealed and it eventually landed in the Ohio Supreme Court.
It ruled 4-3 on Thursday that the term 'boneless wings' refers only to the 'cooking style' and is not to be taken seriously.
'A diner reading "boneless wings" on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating "chicken fingers" would know that he had not been served fingers,' Justice Joseph T. Deters wrote for the majority.
But other justices disagreed, with one calling the majority opinion 'utter jabberwocky.'
'The question must be asked: Does anyone really believe that the parents in this country who feed their young children boneless wings or chicken tenders or chicken nuggets or chicken fingers expect bones to be in the chicken? Of course they don't,' Justice Michael P Donnelly wrote.
'When they read the word "boneless" they think it means "without bones" as do all sensible people.'
The opposition argued that the decision should have instead sat with a jury.
The owners of Wings on Brookwood celebrated the ruling, saying they were glad the case was finally over, and they hoped the decision would protect other small businesses from what they described as 'frivolous lawsuits.'
But Ohio State Sen. Bill DeMora said he now plans to introduce legislation to ensure that anyone in a similar situation can bring their case before a jury.
'It was outrageous. It lacked all common sense,' the Democrat said of the ruling.
He said he has asked the Legislative Service Commission to draft a potential bill that would ensure 'people would get their day in court' rather than have appeal judges make the decisions.
The Ohio legislature, however, will likely not take any action on the measure before the November elections.
Berkheimer now continues to suffer from effects on his body, and has seen a psychiatrist for the trauma he endured.
'It just traumatized me. It's taken joy from my family,' he said. 'Thank God for the Lord and my wife, or else I wouldn't have been here.'
