In Halim v. Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc., No. 23-cv-01495, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Plaintiff brought suit for violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act ("IFCA") claiming breach of express warranty, fraud, and unjust enrichment. The Plaintiff alleged that Buffalo Wild Wings' (BWW) use of the term “boneless wings” is fraudulent, as the meat is chicken breast meat as opposed to wing meat. The Plaintiff further alleged that BWW fools its customers on purpose, calling its products boneless wings because breast meat is cheaper than wing meat. Finally, the Plaintiff claimed that, had he known what he was really eating, he would have paid less for the product or refused to buy it at all. Plaintiff sought to qualify a nationwide class action. BWW filed a motion to dismiss.

U.S. District Judge John Tharp found that Halim had standing to bring his claim under the IFCA, and then turned to BWW's motion with respect to failure to state a claim. Tharp found that while the products at issue may not actually be wings, and calling them wings may be “literally false,” that is not misleading “because ‘no one is deceived.’” Interestingly, Judge Tharp points out that the Plaintiff's arguments apply equally to cauliflower wings, also in the wings section of BWW's menu, which no reasonable consumer would believe contained wing meat. In short, “boneless wing” is “clearly a fanciful name, because chickens do have wings, and those wings have bones.”

Importantly, Judge Tharp held that reasonable consumers are not deceived by the marketing of “boneless wings” and that, as a matter of law, Plaintiff's reading of “boneless wings” is unreasonable. Plaintiff's unjust enrichment and fraud claims failed on the same grounds. The Court allowed Plaintiff additional time to “drum up” additional facts and amend his complaint.

Seeing such a common sense approach to what some may argue is a fantastical consumer fraud claim is interesting, as is the number of chicken puns the Court used. If you're a fan of these wings, BWW announced on X that “They’re called boneless wings and will forever be called boneless wings. Celebrate the court’s decision today with BOGO FREE boneless wings.” Enjoy.