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Wed 13 Apr, 2005 08:29 am
Top Stories - AP
AP
Woman Won't Sue Wendy's for Alleged Finger
2 hours, 8 minutes ago
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A woman who claimed she scooped up a human finger along with her chili at a Wendy's restaurant has decided not to sue the fast-food chain.
Anna Ayala dropped her claim because it "has caused her great emotional distress and continues to be difficult emotionally," said her attorney, Jeffrey Janoff.
Ayala, 39, claimed she found the 1 1/2-inch long fingertip on March 22 while dining at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose. She later filed a claim with the franchise owner, Fresno-based JEM Management Corp., which her attorney had said was the first step before filing a lawsuit.
Phone calls to Ayala's house went unanswered Tuesday. Investigators searched her Las Vegas home last week as part of their investigation into how a finger ended up in the chili.
Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch declined to comment on Ayala's decision to drop the lawsuit but said a reward hot line to receive tips will remain open. Wendy's has offered $50,000 to the first person who can provide verifiable information that identifies the origin of the finger.
"It's very important to us to find out what really happened at the restaurant," Lynch said. "We will continue to fully cooperate with the police investigation."
Wendy's maintains the finger did not enter the food chain in its ingredients. None of the employees at the San Jose store had lost any fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy's ingredients reported any hand or finger injuries, the company said.
The Santa Clara County coroner's office used a partial fingerprint to search for a match in an electronic database but came up empty. DNA testing is still being conducted on the finger.
Wow!
Somebody is NOT going to sue?
Now that IS news.
Not if the potential litigant knows she can be found to be a fraud.
The woman has sued before. There certainly is room for suspicion.
Darn! I was really looking forward to the Court TV airing of this one!
Gives a whole new perspective on the term....finger food
Here's what I want to know:
Wendy's is continuing the investigation, and the police may have gotten evidence and/ or leads when searching Ayala's house. What if it IS her dead aunt's finger (dead ant dead ant, dead ant, deadant deadant deadant deadeant deadannnnt... um, what was I saying?) or they find other evidence that Ayala was responsible for the finger in the chili herself, not Wendy's? What would happen to HER? I mean how much money has Wendy's lost because of this?
Years and years ago there was a skit on Saturday Night Live. In the skit Pee Wee Herman and his gang were in danger of losing their clubhouse.
"If only we could find a mouse in a coke bottle." Pee Wee suggested and a massive search was launched.
"If only we could find a mouse in a coke bottle" became my family's shorthand suggestion whenever anyone faced a seemingly insurmountable problem.
I was thinking about this the other day when we had a woman who came into the studio bragging about her several personal injury settlements that were allowing her to live a very comfortable life, free of work and strife.
I believe this is a way of life for some people.
I have a clear impression--that I can't document right now--that all the fast food chains are victims of sue-mentality crooks and that their legal departments have developed very firm ways of reasoning with the offenders so the lawsuits are dropped.
Stand by for a lot of very bad puns
Such as...
The woman was trying to give Wendy's the finger?
(Sorry.)
Well, now that the culprit has been fingered, Ayala is nailed as havin' been the hand behind the deception. I'm sure, armed with this evidence, the law will subject her to the full wright of its iron fist
It's rumored they captured her with digital equipment.
I think it might be one of my fingers.
Fingers are really handy.
Wendy's chili is the best, hands down.
Roger Ebert gives Wendy's chili one thumb up.
Ooh! Are we doing corny jokes? Someone do one about finger food.
I told you to keep your fingers out of your mouth.