Muslim man sues Little Caesars, claiming 'halal' was a lie in Dearborn ($100 million lawsuit)

Looks like Little Caesars is in some trouble for selling a halal compliant pizza that may or may not have been.

The pizzas (allegedly) had a halal sticker put on the box and Mohamad Bazzi took it home and he and his wife ate some. They thought all was well because of the halal sticker, this indicates they are pork free with other Islam rules being followed. There is more to this story.

A Muslim man is suing Little Caesars for $100 million after he says he was served and then accidentally ate pepperoni made with pork, a food prohibited by Islamic law.

The complaint says Mohamad Bazzi of Dearborn ordered halal pizza twice from the shop on Schaefer in Dearborn. The boxes were labeled "halal," but the pies inside were topped with regular pepperoni.

www.freep.com...

Bazzi knew something was up with the pepperoni, he worked at a pizza joint and knew the different kinds. The story said the Bazzi and his wife got ill and filed a police report. His wife is a convert to Islam and used to eat pork based foods.

The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, says the first incident happened March 20. Bazzi and his wife were midway through eating a pizza he had brought home from the shop when they realized it had pork pepperoni.

Bazzi knew it was pork because he used to work in a pizza place and knows the different types of pepperoni, Moughni said. He also said Bazzi's wife could tell because she is a Catholic convert to Islam who grew up eating pork.

The plot thickens...

The Little Caesars restaurant employee, according to the lawsuit, said Bazzi asked an employee to put the halal sticker on the pizza box, Bazzi secretly recorded the conversation. ( I think this is to make a pizza halal compliant when it wasn't)This is according to Bazzi attorney, Moughni.

When Bazzi confronted the shop manager, according to the lawsuit, she told him at one point that Bazzi had asked an employee to put a halal sticker on the pizza box, a claim Moughni disputes. Bazzi secretly recorded the conversation.

Halal is the Muslim equivalent of Judaism's kosher and requires that meat be prepared according to Islamic guidelines, such as reciting a prayer while the animal is cut.

Sounds like a bunch of trouble coming to a Little Caesars in Michigan.

Meh. Illitch family can afford it.

With that said, personally I find the whole thing silly.
But what do I know?

If I had crazy food restrictions wether that be allergy or religion i probably would not trust a pizza kid to make sure I'm good ToGo ...




a reply to: seasonal

a reply to: seasonal

He should at least get a free pizza out of the deal.

It appears that this Muslim guy set up Pizza hut so he could sue them, relying on the ignorance of an employee to put a sticker on a pizza box that he asked the employee to do when in fact he ordered a non compliant product. So hopefully this gets thrown out of court, hopefully the corporation fights this or it will set the stage for more things like this to happen in the future. Paying off a settlement often creates more lawsuit events to happen. They would be opening a can of worms. A majority of lawsuits are settled before trial, this actually creates more work for lawyers with frivolous lawsuits.

Well, after reading the article, it appears that the sticker may not have been added at the Muslim's request. The worker put a noncompliant pizza in a box marked as compliant, but the customer actually ordered that pizza from what I see in the whole article.

I can't see this big lawsuit, Pizza hut should have been required to teach their workers the difference and that guy should have got twenty free pizzas. In the class action lawsuit, the lawyers will be the ones that get rich and the cost will be passed on to people who buy products, the insurance will go up for all companies in this class. Pizza hut will not suffer, customers of restaurants will suffer.

This is a tactic of lawyers, the legal form will make a whole lot of money on this. I was involved in a couple of class action lawsuits (actually legitimate ones where I had a problematic product), I got eleven bucks from one, the lawyers got millions. The eleven bucks on a one hundred dollar item was piddlycrap. I junked the item.

a reply to: rickymouse

Wow you are right.

Think about how much power a min wage employee could have over a faceless corp. Throw the wrong topping on a pizza and the whole system hits the skids.....

$100 million?
He better hope I don't get on that jury....

I don't know about this guys story. I didn't even know you could get Halal pepperoni.
I live in Michigan and eat LC pizza once in a while if I want something fast and cheap.
It's a just OK pizza, as long as you get one fresh out of the oven.
Crazy thing is if you go to a Detroit Red Wings game(who the Ilitch's own), you have to pay $20 for one of the Hot N Ready pizzas and its the same pizza you would pay $5 for anywhere else.

a reply to: SteamyJeans

Yeah if I had religious restrictions on eating certain types of meat I'd make sure to avoid ordering anything which could potentially have said meat.

If you can't eat pork, then don't order a pizza with pepperoni, there's plenty other choices of pizza toppings which don't potentially contain pork

Mistakes happen though, he really should have checked the pizza before eating it if he was so concerned about his religious practices, I know when I order pizza I always check the pizza first to make sure it's what I ordered

I'm not fond of all this suing I'd say this is 50/50 customer/pizza place fault

originally posted by: RazorV66
I don't know about this guys story. I didn't even know you could get Halal pepperoni.

They usually substitute the pork for beef

Wait, so when a Muslim eats pork, it makes them ill?

I don't claim to be a religious scholar by any means, but I believe I am going to call shenanigans.

a reply to: seasonal

Didn't the article state that this Muslim knew the difference between the two (pepperoni/halal) because he too worked at a pizza establishment? So WTF did they eat it in the first place!!! Have them take it back or throw it away and ask for another free pizza. SMH at Muslims who knew the difference between the pepperoni and halal and still ate it....Allah would be very displeased at this guy...no virgins/raisin grapes for him.

So, wait... he told them to put the sticker on and then complained about it?

Sounds like it's his fault to begin with.

How about Little Ceasars sues him for having a religion with stupid rules about what you can and cannot eat, then ignoring them long enough to trick an employee into putting a sticker onto a box it shouldn't be on, then take it home and eat it with his over-reacting wife?

a reply to: SirKonstantin

Agreed, if you knew the difference in pepperoni, then why eat it?

And if people sued every time food came wrong, for what ever reason, a hamburger would cost $300.

Total setup,

On wider issue why is it OK for religious believer to force business to comply their beliefs.

But business owner cannot practice their religious beliefs in how run business.

originally posted by: Phoenix
Total setup,

On wider issue why is it OK for religious believer to force business to comply their beliefs.

But business owner cannot practice their religious beliefs in how run business.

This makes a lot of sense. The company could have refused to serve the Muslims because they don't have the food or just because w.e.

a reply to: Phoenix

Great point.

The pizza place already caters to the Islamic community in the detroit area. So it is about $$$.

Something doesn't sound right. It will all come out in the wash.

They don't deserve that kind of compensation for what is likely a high school kid puting the wrong toping on a pizza.

a reply to: seasonal

I should sue takeaways for eating foor that is 'halal' as i never asked for my nearest takeaway eateries to be 'halal'.

I think this is a no-win legal case and why the hell should they receive 100mil? They done this on purpose to try to get this money. They should get done for bribery!

If I got 100 million every time I received a wrong pizza topping I'd be listed in Forbes billionaire list.Silly lawsuit.

originally posted by: network dude
Wait, so when a Muslim eats pork, it makes them ill?

I don't claim to be a religious scholar by any means, but I believe I am going to call shenanigans.

The mind can make the body do many things including becoming ill after eating.