It’s never happened before sucks as a defense: No criminal charges over tainted iced tea in Utah

No criminal charges will be filed in the case of a customer who nearly died after unknowingly drinking iced tea mixed with chemicals at a suburban Salt Lake City restaurant, prosecutors said Friday.

imagesBut the restaurant, Dickey’s Barbecue, will enter mediation with the customer, Jan Harding, and her family to try to reach a monetary agreement, her lawyer said. If that does not work, the family will file a lawsuit.

The authorities said that an employee at Dickey’s Barbecue in South Jordan unintentionally put heavy-duty cleaning lye in a sugar bag, and that another worker mistakenly mixed it into an iced-tea dispenser in August.

The Dallas-based restaurant chain has said that the episode was isolated and unprecedented in its 73-year history.