By Max Sullivan From Seacoastonline.com

Seabrook man sues Hershey, says candy broke tooth, ruined vacation

SEABROOK — A Seabrook man is suing the Hershey Company, claiming one of its products required him to have a tooth extraction and ruined his vacation in the Cayman Islands.

John Giarrusso, of Sandpiper Lane, filed the suit in Rockingham Superior Court Sept. 9. He is seeking repayment of $8,000 in medical and dental expenses. His attorney, Armand M. Hyatt, alleges he ate a candy from a bag of Hershey’s Nuggets Milk Chocolate with Almonds that contained a “jaggedly-sharp substance,” causing his tooth to break. His suit accuses Hershey of negligence, breach of warranty and defective product liability.

Giarrusso alleges the incident occurred while he was on vacation on Grand Cayman in October 2013, according to Giarrusso’s suit. Giarrusso’s suit says he had purchased the candy from a store in Stratham before flying to the Caribbean island.

One night during the trip, the suit states, Giarrusso was relaxing with his wife and friends when he took out the bag of chocolates, sharing them before taking one for himself. When he bit it, the suit claims, he felt a piercing pain and heard a loud cracking sound.

Giarrusso rushed to the sink to spit out what the suit described as “the mixture of chocolate, nut(s), saliva, blood, sharp-jagged foreign substance and tooth fragments resulting from his attempt to chew the chocolate ‘nugget.’”

“Mr. Giarrusso’s vacation was significantly ruined by the above-described incident and he was caused to endure substantial pain and suffering over an extended period of time,” Giarrusso’s suit claims.

While the suit describes the candy as “foreign,” it does not accuse Hershey of placing a foreign substance into the candy.

Giarrusso’s suit claims he suffered injuries to his teeth, mouth and jaw, required a tooth extraction, and endured “pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment,” caused by the need for medication. It states he suffered permanent partial injury and impairment.

The suit alleges Hershey was negligent for not placing a label on the candy’s package warning the candy could cause injury. It states Hershey should have provided “some adequately displayed warning concerning the foreseeable prospective danger(s)/risk(s) of the product’s containment of jagged, hard, sharp and potentially damaging substances within each bag offered for sale.”

The suit also alleges Hershey breached a warranty of fitness “implied” during the purchase and the candy causing serious injury demonstrated the product was “inherently defective.”

Hershey Company did not immediately provide a comment for this story.

For more on this story go to: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20160923/seabrook-man-sues-hershey-says-candy-broke-tooth-ruined-vacation

IMAGE: www.hersheysstore.com