BANGOR, Maine — A York Harbor businessman has sued a California-based cracker maker over a tooth he chipped in 2013 when he bit into one.
Arthur Kyricos, representing himself, sued Mary’s Gone Crackers located in Gridley, California, on Thursday in U.S. District Court.
He said a claims adjustor for the company’s insurance company told him in an email that the firm accepted responsibility for the injury but, later, only reimbursed him $500 of his more than $1,500 dental bill.
Efforts to reach a representative of Mary’s Gone Crackers were unsuccessful Friday.
In the five-page complaint, Kyricos said he bought a box of Mary’s Gone Crackers, which are described on the company’s website as “organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, whole grain, vegan and kosher,” on Sept. 27, 2013, at the Belfast Ocean State Job Lots.
Kyricos went to the dentist on Oct. 1, 2013, the complaint said. The dentist told him that the tooth was sound and the substance in the cracker was too hard to be chewed. He informed the company of the problem the same day.
A few days later, Susan L. Meduski, a claims adjustor for Mary’s Gone Crackers’ insurance firm, called Kyricos, the complaint said. She asked him to send her the remaining crackers so it could be determined if they were defective, which he did.
On Oct. 28, 2013, he received an email from Meduski that said: “It appears that there was some excessive dough in a hardened lump in a few of the crackers. With that said, because of the defect, we will be accepting responsibility for your injury.”
In February 2014, Meduski sent Kyricos an email informing him the insurance company was sending him a check for $500 toward his dental treatment.
Kyricos is seeking $1,035 in reimbursement for his dentist’s bill. He also has asked that unspecified punitive damages be imposed.