Woman Sues Trader Joe's Over Fingertip Claim
- Portland resident Julee O’Neil sued Trader Joe’s in Multnomah County Circuit Court after alleging a 52-ounce bottle of orange juice bought in June 2025 contained a rubber glove fingertip and possibly human tissue. - The complaint seeks $10,000 plus attorney fees, saying O’Neil nearly finished the bottle before gagging on what she first thought was pulp and then sought urgent-care treatment. - The case turns a local product-liability claim into a food-safety test for a national grocer that had not publicly responded in initial reports. (kgw.com)
A Portland woman has sued Trader Joe’s, alleging she found a rubber glove fingertip — and may have swallowed part of a human finger — in a bottle of orange juice. (kgw.com) (lawandcrime.com) The plaintiff, Julee O’Neil, filed the complaint on April 20 in Multnomah County Circuit Court. She says she bought a 52-ounce bottle of Trader Joe’s Organic Orange Juice from the chain’s Hollywood-area store on Northeast Halsey Street in June 2025. (people.com) (kgw.com) According to the lawsuit, O’Neil had been drinking from the bottle for days and was finishing it when she felt what she thought was “a large piece of pulp” in her mouth. She says she pulled out the fingertip end of a rubber glove and believes she may already have swallowed human tissue that was inside it or mixed into the pulp. (kgw.com) (lawandcrime.com) The complaint says she gagged, felt nauseated and had a burning sensation in her mouth. It says she went to urgent care after the discovery, though the reports do not describe any diagnosis or lab confirmation that human remains were present. (kgw.com) (katu.com) That distinction matters in the case itself: the public reports describe an allegation in a civil complaint, not a finding by investigators or a court. The articles reviewed cite the lawsuit’s language, but none reports a public test result identifying the object as human tissue. (kgw.com) (lawandcrime.com) O’Neil is seeking $10,000 in damages, plus attorney fees and costs, and the complaint demands a jury trial. The suit says she gave Trader Joe’s written notice and requested a $10,000 settlement before filing, but the company did not pay. (kgw.com) (lawandcrime.com) Initial news reports said Trader Joe’s had not responded to requests for comment from reporters at KGW and Law&Crime. Those same reports did not describe any recall, health-department notice or criminal investigation tied to the orange juice bottle. (kgw.com) (lawandcrime.com) For now, the case is a product-liability claim built around one bottle, one shopper and one unverified object. What happens next will depend less on the headline allegation than on whether court filings, testing or a company response can prove what was actually in the juice. (kgw.com) (people.com)
