A lawsuit filed on April 5 in Fresno County Superior Court alleges that negligence on behalf of Fresno Sports and Events LLC, the owners of the Fresno Grizzlies, caused a Fresno man to choke to death while participating in an amateur taco eating contest in 2019.
Fresno Sports and Events held an amateur taco-eating contest at Chukchansi Park during a Fresno Grizzlies baseball game on August 13, 2019, according to the complaint, which states that Chukchansi staff members noticed the decedent collapse minutes after the contest started. The decedent “had a mouth full of chewed and unchewed tacos obstructing his respiratory system,” according to the complaint.
The complaint states that, at this point, Chukchansi staff called Emergency Medical Services, who arrived and transported the decedent to Community Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The complaint alleges that Fresno Sports and Events were not competent or experienced enough to safely run an eating contest. This incompetence and inexperience, according to the lawsuit, led to the eating contest being carried out without medical technicians present, exercising “an extreme departure of the standard of ordinary care.”
The lawsuit also claims that Fresno Sports and Events held the contest at a location where alcohol was served, failed to warn participants not to drink before the contest, and did nothing to stop contestants from drinking before the contest.
Fresno Sports and Events, according to the lawsuit, did not adequately warn the decedent about the risks he was taking by entering the contest.
The complaint argues that Fresno Sports and Events knew or should have known that using a coarse food like a taco for an amateur eating contest would increase the risk of a participant choking.
Amateur eating contests, according to the complaint, “are inherently dangerous.” Amateur eaters aren’t properly trained to safely chew and swallow large amounts of food very quickly without choking, according to the lawsuit.
Professional speed eaters, according to the complaint, train to strengthen their jaw and develop techniques that allow them to safely swallow large chunks of food, and quickly. Professionals also, according to the lawsuit, know how important it is to not drink before a competition, since drinking can “compromise their ability to compete safely.”
The lawsuit accuses Fresno Sports and Events of negligence, claiming they owed the decedent a duty of reasonable care while carrying out the “inherently dangerous event.” This negligence, according to the lawsuit, permitted the circumstances which led to the decedent’s death.
The lawsuit also contends that the negligence rises to the level of gross negligence, arguing it “constitutes a want of even scant care and an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct. Such outrageous lack of care represents an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct in the context of the situation.”
