DEARBORN, Mich. – A second lawsuit has been filed against a Little Caesars in Dearborn, alleging the restaurant sold pizzas with pork pepperoni to Muslim customers who ordered halal pepperoni.
Last week, a Muslim man named Mohamad Bazzi sued the company after he said his pizza contained pork even though it was advertised otherwise. Bazzi said the pizza he ordered was labeled as "halal," which means it meets Islamic food consumption standards. He said he and his wife became sick after eating the pizza and realizing the pepperoni on the pizza was pork.
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In the second lawsuit, two Muslim Dearborn residents allege they were sold pork pepperoni pizza when they ordered halal pepperoni pizza. They are suing for more than $100 million and allege the number of people affected is in the thousands.
The lawsuit says the two customers ordered halal pizza from the Little Caesars store at 7315 Schaefer Road, which has a halal sign in the window.
Michelle Meade said her husband, Bazzi, brought home a large pizza with halal pepperoni that he ordered from the restaurant. When she realized she was consuming pork, she said she got sick to her stomach knowing she had eaten something forbidden in Islam.
"(Meade) could not believe that she was defrauded and wondered how many other Muslims may have unknowingly eaten pork that (Little Caesars) sold as halal," the lawsuit alleges.
Ali Bazzi, a former police officer who worked for Huron Clinton Metro Park, Dearborn police and the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, is also suing Little Caesars after he said he used to frequently order halal pizza that he doubted was actually halal.
Ali Bazzi said he used to order halal pizza in person at the restaurant and over the phone, and sometimes he would be charged $5.30 and other times he would be charged around $7.
"There were times the pepperoni would be shrunk and crispy and looked like a bowl on top of the pizza," he said. "At other times, the pepperoni would be flat, soggy and thicker than usual, and it had a fatty taste."
He said he now knows that the pork pepperoni was the one that was "flat, soggy and thicker than usual, and it had a fatty taste."
The lawsuit alleges that thousands of customers have ordered halal pepperoni pizza and are "shocked and outraged" to find that they were served non-halal pizza.
Little Caesars is accused of failing to properly train employees on the magnitude and emotional distress caused by feeding pork to Muslims. The lawsuit alleges the restaurant caused "irreparable harm" to thousands of Muslim residents.
The lawsuit accuses Little Caesars of the following:
- Breach of conduct
- Negligent misrepresentation
- Unjust enrichment
- Fraud
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress
- Assault and battery
- Negligence
- Respondeat superior
Selling pork pepperoni pizza to customers who order halal pepperoni pizza would be a violation of "the Wayne County Halal and Kosher Anti-Fraud and Truth-In-Labeling Ordinance (Chapter 159-1), and most importantly, the Islamic Law that prohibits Muslims from eating pork," the lawsuit says.
Dearborn has the highest concentration of Muslim residents in North America.
You can read the full lawsuit in the document below.