The incident occurred at Wings on Brookwood, a wing joint in Hamilton, Ohio, when Michael Berkheimer was dining out with his wife and friends. Berkheimer claims that he felt a piece of meat go down the wrong way.

A few days later, Berkheimer went to the emergency room presenting with a fever and nausea. A doctor discovered that a long, thin bone had torn his esophagus and caused an infection.

Berkheimer consequently sued the restaurant, saying the restaurant failed to warn him that their advertised “boneless wings” contained bones. The suit also named the supplier and the farm that produced the chicken, claiming all were negligent.

In a 4-3 ruling, the Ohio Supreme Court said that “boneless wings” refers to a cooking style, and that Berkheimer should’ve been more cautious of bones, claiming it’s common knowledge that chickens have bone. His case was dismissed.

“A diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers,” Justice Joseph T. Deters said of the case.

The disputing justices said that Deters' reasoning was “utter jabberwocky.”

“The question must be asked: Does anyone really believe that the parents in this country who feed their young children boneless wings or chicken tenders or chicken nuggets or chicken fingers expect bones to be in the chicken? Of course they don’t,” Justice Michael P. Donnelly said.

“When they read the word ‘boneless,’ they think that it means ‘without bones,’ as do all sensible people.”