US Woman Awarded Rs 132 Crore After Eating Ice Cream With Nails, Metal Shards

A US woman has been awarded Rs 132 crore ($14 million) in damages by a court jury after she ate an ice cream cone containing nails and other metal fragments. The Brevard County court found Bruster's Real Ice Cream liable for serving the contaminated dessert to Brandy Buckley, which led to serious medical complications for the Florida resident. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2019, but the case went to trial earlier this month.

Buckley went to the ice cream shop in Palm Bay with her two children to get ice cream cones on September 11, 2018. She was eating a waffle cone with butter pecan ice cream when she noticed something wrong. As per her attorneys, Buckley swallowed some of the metal pieces, which caused internal injuries.

"She took a big bite of it and swallowed it quickly. She felt something but thought it was pecans," Scott Alpizar, the lead attorney in the case was quoted as saying by Florida Today.

Buckley ended up going to the hospital, where X-ray tests showed she had ingested metals along with at least one nail. Surgery was performed to remove the foreign objects from the body, but she continued to have health problems as not all of the metal was removed.

"It's really hard to understand how metal could have ended up in the ice cream. No matter how much trust you have in national brands, mistakes happen. You just need to be careful," said Scott.

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The woman's attorneys also submitted photos of the ice cream cone remnant and a nail in front of the jurors who ended up delivering the judgment in favour of the mother of two.

"This case highlights the critical importance of food safety and the responsibility that both local operators and national brands have to protect consumers," said Scott.

John Alpizar, the other attorney representing Buckley, said his client was grateful to the jury for fulfilling their civic duty, having listened carefully to all of the evidence.

"This verdict reflects the seriousness of the harm our client endured and ensures accountability at all levels," John added.