A doctor suing a Thai restaurant in Los Gatos over claimed internal burns from a spicy appetizer alleged in a recent court filing that she now knows what led to the incident.
San Jose neurologist Harjasleen Walia sued Coup de Thai in July, claiming its Dragon Balls chemically burned her vocal cords, esophagus and the inside of her right nostril, leaving her with permanent injuries.
The restaurant in an October court filing denied Walia’s allegations or causing injury to her.
She claimed in the lawsuit that when she had gone to eat at the downtown Los Gatos restaurant with her friend in July 2021, the Dragon Balls were advertised as spicy, so she asked her server that they be made with less spice because she does not tolerate spicy food. The server “said that they would have the chef make them less spicy,” the lawsuit claimed.
In a recent court filing, Walia alleged that a later admission — the filing does not specify when or by whom — made clear what led to her purported burns. “A new employee who prepared the dish made an error and added additional peppers, rather than reducing them as requested,” the Nov. 13 filing in Santa Clara County Superior claimed.
A lawyer representing Walia in the case did not immediately respond to questions about the alleged extra chilis. A receptionist at Walia’s medical office declined to make her available for an interview about the matter, saying, “I think she would pass, thank you,” and hanging up.
Dragon Balls are currently described on the restaurant’s website as “spicy chicken” balls with mint, shallot, green onion, cilantro, kaffir lime leaf and chili, for $11.
Walia is suing the restaurant and its owner, along with the unnamed chef who cooked the appetizer, the unnamed waitress who took her order, and anyone at the restaurant that day or before who “in any way influenced, designed, prepared, or participated in creating the Dragon Ball dish,” according to the lawsuit.
The doctor, who specializes in treating brain injuries and headaches, alleged that almost immediately after she started eating the Dragon Balls, she “felt her entire mouth, the roof of her mouth, her tongue, her throat and her nose burn like fire,” and that her “eyes and nose watered, and she began coughing.” She began to lose her voice and was later diagnosed with internal “chemical burns” from the chilis, she claimed in the lawsuit.
Walia points a finger at Thai “bird’s eye” chili as the problematic ingredient in her Dragon Balls.
Coup de Thai and Tanatcha Swangchaeng, named in the lawsuit as an owner or operator of the restaurant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Walia’s allegation about the new employee adding peppers. A supervisor at the restaurant told this news organization in July that it was not possible for Dragon Balls to be made in a mild version because the chilis are inside them.
Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a physician at the Washington, D.C.-based National Capital Poison Center, told this news organization in July that eating Thai chilis — spicier than cayenne peppers but not as spicy as habaneros — can irritate the mouth and throat and cause nausea and heartburn. But, Johnson-Arbor said, “they are not associated with permanent tissue damage.”
Walia is seeking unspecified damages, plus medical expenses and compensation for purportedly lost earnings. Her lawsuit also accused the defendants of failing to train Coup de Thai staff “to serve Thai iced tea or some other dairy-based product if a customer had a bad reaction to spice intensity.”
Walia, the lawsuit claimed, “drank an entire glass of coconut water and more water, but the burning did not subside.”
Walia is seeking a jury trial. The restaurant and Swangchaeng said in a Nov. 20 court filing that an investigation into her claims of injury is “ongoing.” Both sides have said in court filings that they are willing to engage in mediation to potentially resolve the dispute.
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