CHICAGO (Court TV) — An Illinois judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Chicago man who accused restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings of false and deceptive marketing of its “boneless” wings.
Aimen Halim, the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, alleged in his complaint “the name and description of the Products (i.e., as ‘Boneless Wings’) leads reasonable consumers to believe the Products are actually chicken wings. In other words, that the Products are chicken wings that have simply been deboned, and as such, are comprised of entirely chicken wing meat.”
A portion of the Buffalo Wild Wings menu shows the items being marketed as boneless wings. (Lawsuit)
The lawsuit claimed that by deep-frying slices of chicken breast meat, the product marketed as “Boneless Wings” are “more akin, in composition, to a chicken nugget rather than a chicken wing.”
Halim alleged that Buffalo Wild Wings should change the name of the product and cites competitors that call its products “boneless chicken” and “chicken poppers.”
The lawsuit claimed Halim suffered a financial injury from the marketing because he would not have purchased them, or would have paid less for them.
Judge John J. Tharp dismissed the complaint without prejudice for failure to invoke subject matter jurisdiction, and gave the plaintiff until March 27 to file an amended complaint.
On its website, Buffalo Wild Wings describes its boneless chicken as “juicy all-white chicken/lightly breaded/handspun in choice of sauce or dry seasoning.”
When reached for comment by Court TV, Buffalo Wild Wings responded with a link to a post the company shared on Twitter, saying: “It’s true. Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken. Our hamburgers contain no ham. Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.”
It’s true.
Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken.
Our hamburgers contain no ham.
Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.— Buffalo Wild Wings (@BWWings) March 13, 2023
Buffalo Wild Wings, which is based in Atlanta, operates more than 1,200 locations across the United States, according to The New York Times.
