This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A $5 million federal lawsuit was filed Thursday in connection with the "toxic tea" incident at Dickey's Barbecue Pit that left a South Jordan woman with severe injuries in 2014.

The parent company that owns Dickey's, Finger Lickin' Brands LLC, is suing the company that provided a cleaning chemical that was accidentally put into an iced tea container, US Foods Inc.

On Aug. 9, 2014, Jan Harding went to Dickey's, 683 W. South Jordan Parkway, and poured herself a glass of iced tea from a dispenser. After taking a drink, she said she immediately felt her throat burning.

It was later discovered that an employee had put six cups of a white powder substance into the iced tea mixer, believing it was sugar. The substance was actually a highly toxic industrial cleaning chemical used for cleaning fryers. The main chemical in the substance is sodium hydroxide.

Harding, 67, was hospitalized for two weeks.

No criminal charges were filed in the case. In December of 2014, Harding reached an out-of-court settlement with the restaurant. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Now, Finger Lickin' Brands is claiming negligence on the part of the distributor and Ecolab, the manufacturer of Clean Force Fryer Cleaner.

"The Clean Force product is a white, fragrance free, granular powder, hazardous chemical cleaning product which Ecolab packaged, and US Foods distributed, in large, unmarked, plastic bags, placed in cardboard boxes," the lawsuit states.

Finger Lickin' Brands claims it was "required to purchase food and nonfood products exclusively from US Foods," the lawsuit states. The hazardous cleaning material was delivered to Dickey's in bulk packages.

Related:

Woman who drank toxic tea reaches settlement with Dickey's A woman who drank "toxic tea" served at Dickey's Barbecue Pit has reached a settlement with the restaurant.

"Sometime after the Clean Force product was delivered to FLB, the unmarked plastic bag containing the Clean Force product became separated from the exterior cardboard box. Subsequently, the Clean Force product in the plastic bag was poured into a different container," according to the suit. "The Clean Force product delivered to FLB did not contain appropriate or adequate packaging, and lacked proper safety warnings regarding the nature and use of the product."

Finger Lickin' Brands notes in its lawsuit that the toxic tea incident received widespread media attention.

"FLB’s reputation was severely damaged by this incident involving injury to its customer and it has suffered compensatory damages, including substantial special damages," the lawsuit states.

The company claims US Foods is negligent for "failing to design, manufacture, package and distribute the Clean Force product in a manner that would distinguish its appearance from other nonhazardous products such as sugar" as well as failing to give the product adequate warning labels.

The plaintiffs also are contending liability because the cleaning product was "unreasonably dangerous," according to the suit.

"It was defective in its manufacture, design, packaging and warnings, in such a manner as to render it unreasonably dangerous to the ultimate user thereof," the lawsuit states.

×

Related Stories