Hey Guys,
As you know, most European countries have somewhat relaxed laws regarding drinking. The majority of Europe sets the drinking age at 18, yet very few countries enforce the law. In the United State, 21 is the legal age for consumption of Alcohol, and in most areas of the country that law is taken very seriously. Some argue that because 18 year-olds can vote and can serve in the military, they should be allowed to drink as well. It seems that a certain Applebee’s location in Michigan would agree that the drinking age should be lowered…
Last Friday, Taylor Dill-Reese went into a Madison Heights Applebee’s for dinner. She ordered her 15-Month-old son Dominick an apple juice… what he got instead was a margarita! After a few minutes Dominick’s mom realized that something was not quite right with Dominick… she said he “kind of laid his head on the table and dozed off a little bit and woke up and got real happy.” Dominick then began to talking loudly to people walking by the table… waiters and other customers.
The danger to Dominick was very real… at such a young age and low weight, combined with his still developing immune and digestive systems, alcohol poisoning could easily have killed him. He appears however to have recovered with no major side effects.
Applebee’s released a statement on Monday saying it was relieved that Dominick was “not seriously injured as a result of accidentally receiving the wrong beverage…”
All Applebee’s locations are undergoing a redesign of their bar areas to ensure such an accident does not happen again.
It is unclear whether or not Dominick’s mom is going to sue Applebee’s. Should she sue? Does she have a responsibility to check her son’s “apple juice”? Or does the restaurant have more of the responsibility?
What do you think?
What a careless thing to do! Applebee’s should be thankful that the child didn’t suffer serious harm from this incident. Clearly, the company’s policies and procedures relating to alcohol need to be closely examined, and the people responsible need to be fired! I hope Applebee's gets sued for negligence for this!
ReplyDeleteThis is something that is really a gray area. It was unconscious neglect on the part of the restaurant or their managers who handled the alcoholic drinks. They should have made sure that everything was labelled properly. Other than that, there was really no blame that can be given. The bartender probably had no way of knowing that what she was putting into the sippy cup wasn't apple juice. Any bartender on a Friday night is probably really busy and distracted. As for the mother, how was she to know either? We all know those sippy cups, they've got that spill-proof cover, so she couldn't see the drink. And I don't know about you, but I don't look at my drink at a restaurant and think hmmm, maybe they accidentally gave me a martini instead of a lemonade. If I did, I'd be in treatment for paranoid behavior. No one expects the orders to be wrong. So no, I don't think that the mother has grounds to sue, but it was a potentially fatal mistake on the part of the Applebee's staff. Next time, they'd better label those jugs.
ReplyDeleteI think Dominic’s mother should definitely sue! A young child’s life was put at risk for such a stupid mistake so I think something serious needs to happen. They could have killed the baby because he should not have been served that much alcohol, let alone any! I do not feel that his mother should feel one bit responsible for letting her child drink the alcohol because she was expecting it to be apple juice. A parent should not need to be worrying that their fifteen month son is being served alcohol at a restaurant. They should be able to feel safe that what they order is what is in the cup. Since this is not the first time this has happened at an Applebee’s they should begin to make decisions on how to drastically change the setup of the restaurants so no more young children’s lives are put at risk because they are stupid enough to preserve drinks and mix them in a babies bottle. One of my main concerns is why do they keep the apple juice and other juices around the alcohol in the first place. That is just asking for trouble there. Most people ordering juices and milks are little kids so those drinks should be placed in different areas to ensure that this will never happen again because I think this should not be tolerated and Applebee’s should be getting sued for a whole lot of money very soon.
ReplyDeleteDominicks mom should definitely sue. It's not her responsibility to check, it's Applebees responsibility. Applebees should know if it is a magarita or apple jucie! When the employee is pouring the drink they should know if it is apple juice or a margarita. They should have been more organized at least if the employee was too busy with other things then to focus on what drink the customer is having. This could have killed the baby! If it did, there would be a big problem.
ReplyDeleteAnd the funny thing is that I just saw an Applesbees commerical! hahahaha
I saw this on the news the other day and I was shocked. I understand that the mixes were put into the wrong containers, but still. Doesn't margarita mix look a lot different than apple juice? Anyway, I think she should definitely sue because it is Applebees responsibility to check the drinks they are giving to people. Some serious damage could have been done to Dominicks health and everyone is lucky that he turned out just fine.
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