A US federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings accusing the restaurant and sports bar chain of selling chicken nuggets and calling them boneless wings. The complaint was filed in 2023 by one Aimen Halim who claimed he was misled into buying chicken nuggets instead of what he assumed would be boneless chicken wings because of the name.
Boneless wings or nuggets?
Halim alleged that the marketing and advertising of “boneless wings” was false and defrauded consumers in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, among other laws.
According to the complainant, he went to a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in January 2023 expecting to get “boneless wings.” He argued that the Buffalo Wild Wings product should be called something else, like “chicken poppers.”
US District Judge John Tharp Jr. however, he rejected the proposed class action in Chicago.
“The complaint has no meat on the bones”
“Halim sued (Buffalo Wild Wings) because of his confusion, but his complaint has no meat on its bones,” Tharp wrote in his decision.
“Despite his best efforts, Halim has not ‘raised’ sufficient factual allegations to establish a claim,” the judge added.
Tharp said reasonable consumers are not fooled into thinking boneless wings are actually made from wing meat. “If Halim is correct, reasonable consumers should think that cauliflower wings are made (at least in part) of wing meat. They are not,” 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 additional facts that would allow the case to proceed.
Buffalo Wild Wings
Founded in 1982, Buffalo Wild Wings specializes in Buffalo-style chicken wings and operates more than 1,300 locations worldwide.
Buffalo Wild Wings, which bills itself as the “World’s Largest Sports Bar”, also has a small presence in India, operating eight outlets in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.