Family Sues After California Man Dies in Taco Eating Contest

April 7, 2021

The son of a California man who choked to death during an amateur taco eating contest at a minor league baseball game is suing the event’s organizers for negligence.

Eighteen-year-old Marshall Hutchings’ lawsuit filed Monday alleges his father, Dana Hutchings, was not made aware of the risks and danger involved in an eating competition, the Fresno Bee reported.

The 41-year-old died after choking on tacos while competing in the contest during a Fresno Grizzlies game on Aug. 13, 2019. Participants competed to devour as many tacos as possible during a certain amount of time.

The suit names Fresno Sports and Events, the owner of the Grizzlies.

“We won’t be making any public comments,” Grizzlies President Derek Frank said in an email.

Professionals in the sport of competitive eating train and make themselves physically ready to participate, Hutchings’ attorney Martin Taleisnik said.

“But that is not always present in an amateur eating contest,” Taleisnik said. “The conductors of this event should have made the risks known to the competitors and taken steps to protect them.”

Topics Lawsuits California

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Latest Comments

  • April 12, 2021 at 12:34 pm
    BigBob says:
    Another meritless, nuisance lawsuit. Guy assumed liability when he entered the stupid contest and probably a release.
  • April 12, 2021 at 11:53 am
    John Dough says:
    All that's missing is the obligatory "he died doing what he loved...thoughts-n-prayerz...izzut too soon?"
  • April 12, 2021 at 11:41 am
    ralph says:
    with all due respect, that's exactly the way I wanna go.

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