Mass. pizzeria in authorized battle over girl’s deadly allergic response
Native Information
Greater than two years after Kierstin “Kiki” Hedin’s demise, her leftover pizza stays caught in authorized limbo as her household seeks to have it examined for dairy.
A New Hampshire man is taking authorized motion towards a Northampton pizzeria the place his daughter — who had a extreme dairy allergy — dined earlier than struggling an anaphylactic response that claimed her life in 2023.
Greater than two years after Kierstin “Kiki” Hedin’s demise at age 25, her leftover pizza from HighBrow Wooden Fired Kitchen & Bar lingers in a Northampton Police Division freezer, caught in authorized limbo as her household seeks testing to find out whether or not the meals contained dairy.
Hedin had a “life-threatening and extreme dairy allergy” for which she had been receiving medical care since childhood, based on the civil criticism her father, Eric Hedin, filed final month on behalf of her property.
Assembly pals for lunch at HighBrow on Jan. 8, 2023, she ordered the “Sticky Ribs” appetizer and a “Braised Quick Rib & Grilled Purple Onion” pizza. HighBrow’s menu signifies the pizza is usually made with asiago and mozzarella cheese, however Hedin requested or not it’s ready with “vegan/lactose-free mozzarella,” per the criticism.
Quickly after consuming the meals, nevertheless, Hedin “started experiencing signs of an allergic response” and finally suffered anaphylaxis that left her with extreme mind injury, the criticism states. Regardless of utilizing her EpiPens and receiving emergency medical care, Hedin fell right into a coma and died 5 days later, her mom, author Tina Hedin, defined in her Substack “Letters From Turkey City.”
Police and prosecutors have indicated they’ll solely launch the frozen pizza leftovers to be examined for dairy by courtroom order or settlement between Hedin’s household and the restaurant. However with dialogue over testing logistics purportedly stalled, Eric Hedin is now taking authorized motion.
At this level, Hedin’s “criticism for discovery” isn’t in search of financial damages, as a substitute requesting a choose’s order that will enable him to have the pizza examined. Legal professionals for each side didn’t return requests for remark Thursday.
Per correspondence included within the criticism, Hedin’s legal professionals despatched an e mail final December proposing the usage of Massachusetts-based Trelfa Labs — the one in-state facility geared up to deal with the required testing, based on the submitting. A month later, legal professionals for the restaurant countered with a request for a extra complicated check that will not solely detect the presence of milk proteins, but additionally decide their amount.
“Nonetheless, no lab in Massachusetts performs these quantitative assessments,” the criticism famous, so Hedin’s legal professionals proposed utilizing the Meals Allergy Analysis & Useful resource Program laboratory on the College of Nebraska. The criticism alleges a stalemate arose over logistics, notably a request from the restaurant’s attorneys to have their very own professional current throughout testing — one thing the FARRP lab doesn’t enable.
Up to now, the restaurant “has not agreed to the testing and has supplied no various options,” the criticism states.
“With the statute of limitations expiring in six months,” and after consulting the Northwestern District Lawyer’s Workplace, Eric Hedin “is left with no various however to hunt judicial intervention,” the doc explains.
The restaurant has not but filed a proper response to the criticism.
Born in Florida and raised for years in Keene, New Hampshire, Kiki Hedin was a “little one of the tropics” and a “nature lady proper from the beginning, barefoot within the sand, noticing each bug and leaf and flower,” based on her obituary in The Keene Sentinel.
“Kiki was adventurous and daring, but additionally excelled at goofing off and stress-free,” the obituary learn, noting she “lived life with a joyful coronary heart and a spirit that was pure sunshine.”
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