Oregon Woman Allegedly Swallowed Human Fingertip While Drinking Trader Joe’s Orange Juice, Lawsuit Says

A woman from Oregon has filed a lawsuit against Trader Joe's after she accidentally swallowed a severed human fingertip while drinking orange juice. The woman has filed a lawsuit after buying orange juice from Trader Joe's.

A woman from Oregon, identified as Julee O’Neil, filed a legal complaint in Multnomah County Circuit Court on April 20 against the Trader Joe’s Company, seeking $100,000 in damages and legal fees. The lawsuit was filed after O’Neil accidentally swallowed a severed human fingertip while drinking an orange juice; she initially thought it was a big chunk of pulp.

The lawsuit, obtained by Law&Crime, claims that O’Neil accidentally ingested the severed fingertip, which had a piece of a rubber glove at the end of it. The incident occurred in June 2025 after O’Neil purchased some organic juice from the Trader Joe’s store in Portland, Hollywood neighborhood, which is located at 4121 Northeast Halsey Street.

“O’Neil was finishing the said orange juice, when she felt like there was a large piece of pulp in her mouth,” the complaint states, noting how she believes she “inadvertently swallowed or ingested” a human fingertip that was in the “end of the rubber glove.”

O’Neil claims she had been “periodically drinking” from the organic juice bottle until it was almost all gone, while the fingertip was inside. O’Neil was gagging and felt nauseated and had a burning sensation in her mouth, according to the complaint. “She was unconcerned that the human hand that was at the tip of the glove was also severed and was part of the pulp.”

O’Neil then claimed that he went to an urgent care clinic after swallowing the fingertip to seek “medical attention.”

O’Neil sent a written notice asking for a settlement from Trader Joe’s, but the grocery giant “failed and refused to negotiate” to pay it, according to the legal complaint that has been filed in court and reviewed by Law&Crime.

Law&Crime has tried to reach out to Trader Joe's for an official statement regarding an official complaint filed on April 22nd. Law&Crime also reached out to the attorney for O’Neil, Antoney Furniss, who also did not respond to requests for comment.