In one of the odder coincidences in food-related lawsuit history, two separate Chicago-area women each filed suits against two separate grocery stores this week… for slipping and falling on runaway grapes.

In one case the 64-year-old plaintiff is suing a Food 4 Less store in Cicero, IL, and its parent company Kroger for over $50,000 after she claims an errant grape caused her to incur over $21,000 in medical expenses.

The other grape-related incident allegedly occurred last May at a Moo & Oink in Hazel Crest. The plaintiff in that case says she “suffered injuries of a personal and pecuniary nature” and is suing for more than $30,000.

“Produce sections are notoriously dangerous,” said the lawyer in the Food 4 Less suit. “I’ve had people fall on watermelon juice, rotten grapes and cherry tomatoes… I have never actually had the proverbial banana peel, though.”

As for the particularly pernicious properties of grapes, the legal eagle explained, “They are very stealthy, those grapes… They are small, they are round and they roll… They don’t make a sound when they hit the floor.”

Grapes of wrath [Chicago Tribune]

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