If I buy 'nut free' cakes and then after eating them I start reacting to them- can I sue them 10pts?

Question

Lets say I purchase ''nut free'' cakes and ate them and after a while I react to them and end up having to take an emergency shot, then have to stay at the hospital for 3 days and also unable to attend work. Will I by law be able to sue them?

thanks

Answer 1

Firstly, you would have to ensure that the product was labelled as totally nut free. Often there is a warning that something may contain traces of nuts - simply because it is made in a unit where other cakes are made which do contain nuts. That means that although nuts are not an ingredient of the cake you ate, there is the possibility of contamination.



Secondly, you would have to prove that your allergic reactionwas caused by that particular cake. If the reaction was "after a while" as you say, how can you be sure it wasn't something else which caused it? If you ate anything else, could that have contained traces of nut? Can you be certain the reaction was to the nuts, and not to something else you are allergic to (which you may not even be aware of yet)?



That would be very difficult to prove: if you want to proceed you need to talk to a solicitor to see if you would be able to make a good enough case to have any chance in court.

Answer 2

There are a couple of points that would make this legal action difficult, but not impossible.



Firstly you would have to read the wrapper very carefully - does it guarantee to be nut-free? If so you may have a case, if not then you don't. If it's ambiguous it's an issue for the court to decide (in other words there would be a lot of legal arguments which would cost you a lot of money)



Then you would have to show that your reaction was caused by nuts and the nuts came from that product. Again, you would need to bring expert witnesses and perhaps witnesses to what else you had eaten. So, again, very expensive.



You might be able to get a lawyer to take this on a 'no win no fee' basis, but otherwise the costs of such an action would be out of the reach of most 'ordinary' people

Answer 3

You are responsible for the choices you make. The producer of food has to state the contents of said food. Thats their job finished when they state on the packaging - your responsible for reading the package.

If you buy a cake in a Cafe - open on a plate - you are responsible for asking the seller if it contains nuts. If they say no, you have a case for suing if your health is affected by eating that cake. If they say "yes" it is your choice to eat it and take the risk.

It is reasonable to buy a Jam Tart and NOT to expect Nuts in it. The producer would have to make it clear there are nuts in it. So you could have a case in this instance.

If there is a declaration saying "NUT FREE" you would have an absolute case against the provider of that cake. You must keep the cake and packaging, if possible. If you have eaten all of it and thrown the package away - buy another cake to keep as evidence.

Answer 4

It's unlikely that you would win a case as most packaging does state they cannot guarantee it's nut free as other products are produced in the same environment that might contain nuts.

Answer 5

You would have to prove that there were nuts in them before you could take any action.

UK

Answer 6

Read what pertains to you. Seems you aren't the only one



https://www.google.com/search?q=If+I+buy+%27nut+free%27+cakes+and+then+after+eating+them+I+start+reacting+to+them-+can+I+sue+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Answer 7

you can try.

if a lawyer won't take the case, it will be harder to win.

Answer 8

no guarantee that you would win

Answer 9

No.