The new year starts off with two restaurants facing food allergy-related lawsuits.
The first is a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Abraham Kenneth Ezra Williams, who was on vacation in Las Vegas with his family in April 2024.
The complaint states that he had warned staff of his shellfish allergy before ordering spaghettini with pesto sauce at the Beauty & Essex restaurant inside The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino.
While pesto doesn’t typically contain shellfish, off-the-shelf brands can contain traces of anchovies, sardines, tuna, or mussels due to cross-contact at the manufacturing facility.
Williams took one bite and immediately suffered anaphylactic symptoms. Feeling ill, he went to the restroom and was subsequently helped outside by friends while someone called 911.
Anaphylaxis is a severe life-threatening reaction to a food, drug, insect venom, or environmental contaminant.
The suit alleges that employees trained to administer CPR and other aid failed to do so and instead stood by watching while Williams gasped for air.
“Employees of Defendant Cosmopolitan and/or Beauty & Essex created a barricade around the Decedent and refused to let anyone through to perform any life saving techniques,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint also alleges that EMS personnel from Community Ambulance and Clark County Fire Department did not follow proper procedures for treating a patient in anaphylactic shock, leading to delays in administering medication, improper monitoring of his condition, and, eventually, oxygen deprivation.
According to the suit, Williams suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest upon arrival at Sunrise Hospital, where staff were unable to intubate him due to severe swelling. They performed a cricothyrotomy — where an incision is made in the throat to establish an airway — and placed on a ventilator in intensive care.
Williams was removed from the ventilator on April 28 and died two days later.
The second lawsuit was filed on behalf of Katherine Lamb-Jones, a Tennessee woman with a severe allergy to lemons, claiming staff at LongHorn Steakhouse in Madison, Tennessee, ignored her multiple requests for a meal free of lemons.
The complaint states that on November 26, 2023, Lamb-Jones visited her local LongHorn with her family, where she had previously dined and where the hostess already knew of her allergy.
“Upon being seated at their table, Ms. Lamb-Jones and her family made their server aware of Ms. Lamb-Jones’ severe lemon allergy,” the complaint states. She also “took the additional step of specifically inquiring as to the lemon content of the items she had ordered.”
The suit states that she was told “belatedly” that the green beans she had been served contained lemon, which she promptly returned.
The lawsuit describes how Lamb-Jones ordered steak, a dish not customarily accompanied by lemons.
Stated in the complaint:
After Ms. Lamb-Jones began eating the steak, she was informed by her server that the steak had been prepared with lemon seasoning. Consequently, Ms. Lamb-Jones suffered an anaphylactic allergic reaction that resulted in her having to go to the emergency department of Tristar Skyline Medical Center for treatment.
The suit accuses LongHorn, parent company Darden Restaurants, and subsidiary Rare Hospitality Management, which operates the LongHorn chain, of breaching their “duty of care” to her as a customer and demands $1 million in damages.
In a response filed Monday, the corporation owning LongHorn denied having “breached any duty” or having “committed any act or omission” that caused Lamb-Jones’ condition.
The response asserts:
Defendants at all times acted reasonably and are not liable to the Plaintiff for any sum or sums of money under any legal theory, including premises liability,
