NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge threw out on Tuesday a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings that alleged the restaurant and sports bar chain deceived consumers by selling boneless wings that are not actually de-boned chicken wings.
Judge John Tharp Jr. in Chicago dismissed the proposed class action lawsuit brought in 2023 by a man named Aimen Halim who claimed he was misled into purchasing the disputed menu item that is essentially a chicken nugget.
“Halim sued (Buffalo Wild Wings) over his confusion, but his complaint has no meat on its bones,” Tharp wrote in his ruling.
“Despite his best efforts, Halim did not ‘drum’ up enough factual allegations to state a claim,” the judge added.
Halim alleged that the marketing and advertising of “boneless wings” is false, duping consumers in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, among other claims.
Tharp said reasonable consumers are not deceived into thinking boneless wings are truly made of wing meat. “If Halim is right, reasonable consumers should think that cauliflower wings are made (at least in part) from wing meat. They don’t, though,” the judge added.
Despite granting the chain’s request to dismiss the case, Tharp gave Halim until March 20 to amend his lawsuit to present any additional facts that would allow the case to go ahead.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
