Platters of Nathan’s hot dogs are assembled as part of a weigh-in ceremony for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York, July 2, 2021.
Photo:
justin lane/Shutterstock
Americans consume 20 billion hot dogs a year, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. On Independence Day alone, Americans will enjoy 150 million—enough to stretch from Los Angeles to the District of Columbia five times. With such a jaw-dropping number of wieners in circulation, it’s no wonder that they often play a role in legal disputes.
On July 4, 2010, a Dillard’s department store held a cookout for its employees. A manager instructed that the leftover hot dogs be frozen and saved for Labor Day. The following day,
Nolan Koewler
ate two of the earmarked hot dogs. The police were summoned, and to avoid arrest, Mr. Koewler admitted to the theft.
He was fired and denied unemployment compensation because Dillard’s claimed he was discharged for just cause. But Mr. Koewler successfully challenged. In Koewler v. Indiana Department of Workforce Development (2011), a state appeals court concluded that there was no evidence that Dillard’s “rescission of [the] offer of celebratory food was in fact communicated to Koewler.”
In 2003,
Robert King
was convicted of burglary. The decisive evidence was his fingerprint found on a package of hot dogs in the victim’s home. A Texas appeals court, in King v. State, found the evidence sufficient, rejecting the defendant’s argument that he could have left the fingerprint by touching the package while shopping at the Save-A-Lot.
William Seymour,
a prison inmate also known as
William Jones,
became ill after consuming two hot dogs served at an evening meal. Naturally, he sued. His case was dismissed after a Pennsylvania federal court, in Seymour/Jones v. Oldt (1990), concluded that, because he had eaten the hot dogs frequently…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RSSOpinion…