A Texas mother and her daughter are seeking damages after an incident at a New York City restaurant in late 2023, during which they allege they bit into a piece of hard plastic in a mozzarella sandwich. Stevie Bingham, 48, and her daughter, Scotlynd Schulick, claim the encounter at Obica Mozzarella Bar on Madison Avenue resulted in significant dental injuries.
According to the lawsuit, Schulick, then 8 years old, began screaming after biting into the sandwich. Bingham stated that when she also took a bite, she cracked one of her own front teeth. The lawsuit claims the incident left Bingham needing a prosthetic tooth and Schulick with "serious and permanent personal injuries."
Stevie Bingham, who owns a styling business in Houston, alleges that the sandwich contained "hard plastic and/or other dangerous foreign materials." She told the Daily Mail that the force of biting down "knocked out my daughter's sealant out of her mouth" and "broke my front tooth in half." Bingham described the experience as having "ruined our vacation" and stated, "Now, I have to live with a fake tooth in the front of my face for the rest of my life."
Bingham's attorney, Eric Love, stated that the incident led to the mother and daughter flying home for emergency dental appointments, including a root canal for the daughter. "What should have been a happy memory ended with a piece of hard plastic in a sandwich, a mother spitting out part of her own tooth, and a little girl in a dentist's chair," Love said.
The lawsuit accuses Obica Mozzarella Bar of negligence, breach of implied warranty, and loss of services and expenses, asserting that the injuries were a result of the restaurant and its staff's "negligence, carelessness and recklessness."
Bingham claims she informed the restaurant's manager about the incident and showed him the object found in the sandwich, but alleges that the compensation offered was insufficient and declined to cover dental work.
Obica Mozzarella Bar is an international chain with over 20 locations globally. The restaurant on Madison Avenue is described on its website as a "Mozzarella Bar Experience" and is located near Trump Tower. The chain is owned by the Scudieri family, an Italian industrial group. Paolo Scudieri, 66, chairman of car interior components producer Gruppo Addler, which has a global workforce of over 15,000 and an annual turnover of approximately $1 billion, also owns Obica through his company Excellence Campane. Scudieri's personal net worth is estimated at $500 million.
The Daily Mail reported that Obica did not respond to multiple requests for comment.