A Tarrant County man says his Belt-Buster burger from Dairy Queen busted his wallet instead by landing him in the hospital, where he reportedly accrued about $20,000 in charges.

Ralph Bryan is suing the Dairy Queen at 6700 Bridge St. in Fort Worth and says the restaurant sold him a moldy burger that gave him food poisoning so severe that he had to go to an emergency room.

Lickety Split Food Services operates the restaurant. A phone message seeking comment wasn't immediately returned Sunday.

Bryan, a barber, filed the suit Thursday in Tarrant County. His attorney said in a court filing that Bryan's wife bought a double-patty burger on Sept. 17 and took it to him at work. But according to the suit, Bryan was so busy that he ate only part of the burger, which was still covered in a wrapper.

The barber said that's the reason he didn't see "a great amount of mold" on the bun, which he discovered later when he inspected the burger. He began to get sick about an hour after he munched on the burger and got worse as the day progressed, according to the suit.

Bryan's attorney told the court that Bryan reported the problem to the Dairy Queen on Bridge Street, where an employee took what was left of the burger. Restaurant personnel acknowledged there was a problem, and an area supervisor gave Bryan a coupon that could be redeemed for more Dairy Queen food, according to the suit.

Bryan is seeking $200,000 to $1 million in damages. He claims financial loss, extreme pain and suffering, and extreme mental anguish.

The barber went to the emergency room the day after he ate the burger, according to the suit, which doesn't specify how long he was at the hospital.

"Without the needed medical care Mr. Bryan might have died," the suit read. "This whole, horrid, experience has been very painful and frightening to Mr. Bryan."