What came first, the chicken, the wing, or the boneless chicken wing?

While that question is yet to be answered, and somewhat mythical, the Ohio Supreme Court has had to weigh in, so things are now getting serious.

Ohio Supreme Court Rules on Boneless Chicken Wings

An Ohio supreme court ruled 4-3 that consumers ordering boneless wings should not expect the items to be free of bones, just like chicken fingers do not contain fingers.

Let’s dive into how we got here in the first place. The decision comes after a man ordered boneless wings and swallowed a bone that damaged his esophagus and infected his throat.

The Associated Press reported that Michael Berkheimer was dining with his wife and friends at a wing joint in Hamilton, Ohio, when he ordered his usual: boneless wings with Parmesan garlic sauce.

As he put his napkin on his lap, licked his chops and got ready to dig in, everything seemed normal for Berkheimer.

But, as Berkheimer was eating, he felt a bite-size piece of meat go down the wrong way.

According to Fox Business, three days later, Berkheimer had a fever and was unable to keep food down, so he went to the emergency room. It was there where a doctor discovered a long, thin bone that had torn his esophagus and caused an infection.

This is where it starts to get ugly, and hairs start to get split. Berkheimer sued the restaurant, Wings on Brookwood, claiming the restaurant failed to warn him that “boneless wings” could contain bones, despite the understanding the items are nuggets of chicken meat free of bones, or “boneless.”

This made it all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, where the decision was final. In the court’s decision, it said that “boneless wings” refers to a cooking style, and Berkheimer should have been on guard against bones, since it is common knowledge that chickens have bones.

The final decision came down in written form, and it’s crazy to see how serious it got over boneless chicken wings.

“A diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers,” Justice Joseph T. Deters wrote for the majority.

Bottom line, you now need to always be on-guard when eating boneless chicken wings, as they might contain bones, and you can’t really do anything about it at this point.

Evan Paul is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show heard on more than 130 country radio stations nationwide, every night from 7PM to midnight. He plays the best new country music and interviews today’s top stars, like Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, + more!