A Mission Viejo man who claims he chewed on a condom in his French onion soup at Claim Jumper in April 2009 will have his case heard in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana beginning Monday.

Zdenek Philip Hodousek, 51, is seeking unspecified damages and a public apology from the Irvine-based restaurant chain and any vendor associated with making the soup. Hodousek’s lawyer, Eric Traut, said his client was offered a $30,000 settlement by the company, but the case will go to court because Hodousek wants vindication for his “tarnished reputation.”

Claim Jumper last year issued a statement denying the validity of the man’s allegations, which is the position the company maintains today.

“We have found no evidence to support any of the allegations of a ‘foreign object in the food,” said Joan Gladstone, a spokeswoman for the company in a statement issued Monday. “After a thorough investigation, there was no evidence of any Claim Jumper employee involvement or wrong doing.

“We have faith in the jury system and believe we will be vindicated in court,” Gladstone said.

According to a lawsuit filed in July 2009, Hodousek was eating at the Claim Jumper at Santa Margarita and Marguerite parkways with his family April 12, Easter Sunday.

A server brought Hodousek’s soup, which he began to eat.

“Suddenly he felt what he believed was tough cheese on one side of his mouth,” the suit reads. “When he could not chew it into pieces, (Hodousek) commented to his family that it felt like rubber. He spit it out, spooned it onto a napkin, at which time his wife said ‘Oh my God, it’s a condom.'”

The suit states the condom had a knot in it, which was later untied by the restaurant’s general manager, Marc Hadley, because he thought it might be a rubber glove. After the knot was untied, it was apparent that the item was a condom.

The meal was complimentary and Hodousek took the condom with him to have it tested. According to the suit, preliminary tests by Lab Corp. in North Carolina found female DNA on the condom.

Traut said both Philip Hodousek and his wife Sherry submitted to DNA tests, the results of which did not match the DNA on the condom.

Traut said Claim Jumper, which conducted DNA tests of its own employees, has not been forthright in divulging the findings. Gladstone said the company has provided all the test results to Traut.

Last July, Hodousek admitted to owing the state and federal governments nearly $300,000 in back taxes and penalties, but said his debt and the restaurant incident are unrelated.

Traut said there is no evidence a member of the family planted the condom, or that tax liens would cause his client to do so.

“The Hodouseks want their names cleared of any wrongdoing and Claim Jumper is unwilling to make a public statement saying that’s the case,” Traut said. “They’ve lived in this community many years, and their reputation has been tarnished. A verdict in their favor would resolve that.”

Contact the writer: 949-454-7352 or npirani@ocregister.com