Man awarded €4,250 after breaking tooth on 'hard' bacon rasher in sandwich he'd constructed

A man who broke a tooth after he ate a rasher of bacon he described as being “hard like a brick” from a restaurant in Swords, Fingal, Ireland, has been awarded €4,250 (£3,000, $4,700) at a civil sitting of Swords District Court. Judge Patricia McNamara said she was satisfied to find for the plaintiff, Shane McQuillan, 32, as there was no proof in court from the restaurant that the food had been changed every 90 minutes.

However, she said Mr McQuillan was “guilty of contributory negligence” as he “should have been careful of a crispy rasher rind”. She initially awarded €6,500 in general damages and €2,500 in special damages. But, as she held McQuillan 50% guilty of contributory negligence, she halved the damages to €4,250 and ordered the defendant pay his legal costs.



Mr McQuillan, from Swords, took the personal injuries case against More with Food Ltd at Airside at Dublin Airport after he fractured his upper right back molar while eating two sausages and two rashers which he made into a sandwich on March 23, 2013. He said he purchased all of the food items in the restaurant. He told barrister Pat Purcell BL, when he took a second bite from the sandwich he felt something hard “like a brick” break his tooth. He said he still suffers “occasional pain” and cannot drink cold drinks.

He said it was his belief the food was left out in a steel tray on heated water behind a glass display for a number of hours. The defendant’s solicitor Seamus White put it to Mr McQuillan that he “choose to put the rasher inside the bread in the condition it was in”. Anna Bodaska, a manager at the restaurant, said the food is changed every 90 minutes but had no records to prove this. Judge McNamara said she was satisfied to find for Mr McQuillan as there was “no proof of the changing of the food” and she was satisfied the rind caused the tooth to be damaged. “It would be different if he ate a fried egg and broke his tooth.”