Within a month there were two separate reports of toddlers allegedly being served alcohol in error while dining in a public restaurant. In the second case, as reported by My Fox Orlando, the toddler’s mother has sought legal council to prevent this from happening again.
During a family dinner at a popular chain restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, J.V.H. noticed that her son N was acting very peculiar. He had been drinking from a child’s plastic cup, served to him by a waiter, that she presumed was filled with the orange juice she had ordered.
Instead, the two and half year old boy had been sipping on something laden with alcohol. He had almost emptied the cup when a waiter appeared at the table.
Of the waiter’s return J.V.H. said, “We're eating our meals when the waiter came over and said there's been a mistake, I need to get you a new one and took the glass and kind of scurried away.”
Then J.V.H. asked what was in the cup her son was served and she was told that he had a “Tropical Sangria.”
A Tropical Sangria is made with orange and pineapple juices, as well as white wine.
J.V.H. then spoke to the manager of the restaurant. She reported that “he was very sympathetic, very apologetic, but no real explanation as to how it happened, just that it was a mistake.”
N appeared to be misbehaving during the entire dinner, per J.V.H., and that his strange behavior got her to think. She detected that her child “was visibly drunk. His eyes were dilated, they were red. He was now getting loud.
At that point she left the restaurant and drove N to the Emergency Room at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.
During an examination physicians told her that there was no way they could determine immediately how much alcohol was in N’s system. The boy had to have an I.V. of fluids before he was released a few hours later.
J.V.H. is confident that N will not suffer with any long-term ill affects from his alcohol consumption. She said that N appeared to have gone through the ordeal unscathed.
The chain restaurant released this statement to Fox 35: “We take the responsibility that comes with serving alcohol seriously. This was an extremely regrettable accident caused by the failure of an employee to follow our strict operating procedures. We take this situation very seriously, and we are especially grateful that the child involved was not seriously harmed. We have absolutely no tolerance for failure to follow our operating procedures and we took swift, appropriate action to deal with this situation. We are also taking immediate steps to reinforce our standards. We offer our sincerest apologies to the family of the child, and to all of our guests, whose trust we work so hard to earn. We recognize that trust has been jeopardized by this isolated event, and we are focused on ensuring our guests experience the high standards of service that they've come to expect from us.
J.V.H. has since requested her son’s medical records and contacted an attorney. She wants to know exactly how much alcohol her son ingested and, make sure that the restaurant make the necessary changes that will prevent any other child, and family, to go through a similar incident.
If you, or your child, has been harmed by food or beverages served in a restaurant, contact a personal injury lawyer from our list to help you with your case. Monetary compensation, and changes in policy, are oftentimes both due.