$69,000 Claim|for a Hard Pretzel

BOSTON (CN) - A "dangerously hard" Paul Newman pretzel fractured a woman's tooth, she claims in a $69,000 lawsuit against the late movie star's organic food company.

Rochelle Steinberg sued Newman's Own Organics for breach of warrant and negligence on Oct. 15 in Middlesex County Court. She demands $69,452.

Steinberg claims she fractured a molar upon biting into a Newman's Own pretzel stick she bought at co-defendant Concord Provisions in October 2011.

"Suffering from immense pain," Steinberg says, she went to her dentist, who told her that the "dangerously hard pretzel" had fractured her molar.

Steinberg claims the pretzel was so hard that her partner "could not bite through" another pretzel from the bag.

She claims she has suffered through "more than two years of surgeries and treatment, including a complex and painful tooth extraction that extended into her sinuses," that she still suffers pain from it, and "will likely have dental problems in the affected regions of her mouth for the rest of her life."

Newman's Own insurer, nonparty Zurich North America, rejected her claim, she says. She seeks damages for breach of warranty (manufacturing defect), negligence, failure to warn, defective design and deceptive trade.

She is represented by Neil Burns.

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