New Mexico woman sues Chili's over needle in mashed potatoes

Ashely Phillips, 23,was enjoying a plate of ribs and mashed potatoes at Chili's in Farmington last July with her husband when she bit down on something hard and felt something sharp piercing her tongue.

On pulling out the foreign object from her mouth she discovered that it was a needle about two-inches long.

Shocked and bewildered over the mishap, Phillips protested and summoned the manager of the restaurant.

According to Ashley, she barely had time to examine the needle before the manager whisked it away.

"I thought it was a toothpick at first," said Ashley. "But a toothpick doesn't pierce all the way through the side of your tongue."

She added, "I wasn't sure how big it was because they took it away so fast. But it must have been about 2 inches."

"I told the manager that I wanted to take a picture and get the needle tested," Ashley said. "The manager refused. He said that we couldn't take the needle or take a picture, and that we couldn't see the accident report."

Chili’s refuses to return needle
Since, Ashley was nursing her 2-month-old son, Darrian, at the time, her doctor felt it was imperative that the needle be tested.

However, when the couple returned to Chili’s the next day to retrieve the needle the manager refused to hand it back to them for testing.

"I told the manager that I wanted to take a picture and get the needle tested," Ashley said. "The manager refused. He said that we couldn't take the needle or take a picture, and that we couldn't see the accident report."

Ashley and Darrian undergo tests
Meanwhile, Phillips had to stop breast feeding her baby and she and her baby had to undergo a host of tests.

"I had to stop nursing my son," said Ashley. "Nursing is so important for an infant's health and emotional development that we are suing for emotional damages."

Fortunately, both Ashley and Darrian have tested negative for AIDS, Hepatitis and some other possible infections but have not got a complete clean chit of health.

Ashley stated, "It takes a while for some of these things to show up. We have to go back for more testing in a year."

Delay in testing spurred lawsuit
According to Phillips, it took Chili's 52 days after the incident to send the needle to a lab for testing.

Though it tested negative, the Phillips have doubts that the needle may have been cleaned.

Phillips is suing Chili's Restaurant and Grill because the company took almost took two months to send the needle to a lab. Had they done the needful within 72 hours, she would not have pressed on the issue.

Phillips' attorney, Mitch Burns, who is representing her, stated, "We have reason to believe that the needle belonged to a member of the cook staff and was used to clean his marijuana pipe.

"We also have reason to believe that there was ongoing usage of marijuana that was known by all the employees and the management."

Representatives of both Chili's Restaurant and Grill and Chili's Inc. declined to comment.