It’s not just ordinary citizens who file big-ticket lawsuits against eateries. Ohio congressman and occasional presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is suing a cafeteria in the Capitol Complex for $150,000 after a particularly harrowing run-in with an olive pit.

Kucinich filed the suit earlier this month against the operators of the cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building, where many members of Congress have their offices. He claims he purchased a sandwich there in April 2008 (not a typo — this happened almost three years ago) that “contained dangerous substances, namely an olive pit, that a consumer would not reasonably expect to find in the final product served.”

From the suit:

Said sandwich wrap was unwholesome and unfit for human consumption in that it was presented to contain pitted olives, yet unknown to plaintiff, contained an unpitted olive or olives which plaintiff did not reasonably expect to be in the food prepared for him, and could not visually detect prior to consumption

Congressman Kucinich claims that chomping down on the pit caused “permanent dental and oral injuries requiring multiple surgical and dental procedures.” The lawsuit states that the plaintiff believes he is entitled to “recover damages, including but not limited to past and future dental and medical expenses, compensation for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment and other damages.”

Check out a PDF of the civil complaint here.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich sues cafeteria over olive pit in sandwich [Cleveland.com]

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