Lawsuit Filed Against Jersey Mike’s and Grubhub After Customer Allegedly Finds Dentures in Delivery Order

A newly filed lawsuit is drawing national attention to food safety and the liabilities of third-party delivery services after a customer allegedly discovered a set of dentures inside a sandwich ordered through Grubhub from a Jersey Mike's franchise. The civil complaint, filed this week in state superior court, accuses both the national sandwich chain and the delivery giant of negligence, breach of implied warranty, and severe emotional distress.

According to the legal filing, the plaintiff ordered a signature sub sandwich through the Grubhub mobile application. Upon receiving the sealed delivery and taking a bite, the customer allegedly struck a hard, foreign object embedded within the layers of cold cuts and lettuce. To their shock, the object was identified as a partial set of dental prosthetics. The lawsuit asserts that the plaintiff suffered minor dental damage from the impact, alongside acute nausea and ongoing psychological distress that has allegedly hindered their ability to consume prepared restaurant foods.

Key Allegations in the Complaint

The legal action targets several operational areas of both companies, highlighting potential lapses in quality control and food security:

• Negligence in Food Preparation: The suit claims kitchen staff at the local franchise failed to maintain basic sanitary standards and proper oversight during the assembly of the product.
• Chain-of-Custody Failures: The complaint raises questions regarding the security of the meal during transit, alleging a lack of tamper-evident sealing or adequate monitoring by the delivery driver.
• Breach of Implied Warranty: The plaintiff argues that the defendants sold and delivered a food product that was fundamentally unfit for human consumption.

In response to the litigation, representatives for Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems Inc. released a brief statement stating that the company is actively investigating the incident with the local franchise owner, emphasizing that food safety and sanitation remain their highest priorities. Meanwhile, Grubhub has distanced itself from the preparation aspect of the dispute. A spokesperson for the delivery platform stated that while they take all customer complaints seriously, food preparation and packaging are the sole responsibility of the independent merchant partners.

Legal experts note that this case underscores an ongoing debate regarding third-party delivery liability. As gig-economy delivery platforms continue to dominate the food service industry, courts nationwide are increasingly tasked with defining where a restaurant's liability ends and a delivery service’s responsibility begins when a customer's order is compromised.