A US federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings, which alleged the restaurant chain misled customers by selling “boneless wings” that are not, in fact, de-boned chicken wings.
Judge John Tharp Jr. threw out the proposed class action, brought in 2023 by Aimen Halim. Mr Halim claimed he was deceived into purchasing the menu item, which he described as “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.
