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The Trader Joe’s in Portland, Ore., where Julee O’Neil says she purchased orange juice that allegedly contained a severed human fingertip (Google Maps).
In a shocking incident, an Oregon resident had an unexpected encounter with her orange juice from Trader Joe’s, resulting in the ingestion of a severed human fingertip, initially mistaken for pulp, as detailed in a lawsuit.
Julee O’Neil has initiated a legal suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court, seeking $10,000 in damages, along with coverage for legal expenses, from the Trader Joe’s Company.
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by Law&Crime, O’Neil unknowingly consumed the fingertip, which was still attached to a piece of a rubber glove, in June 2025. She had purchased the organic orange juice from the Trader Joe’s outlet in Portland’s Hollywood district, located at 4121 Northeast Halsey Street.
Within the complaint, O’Neil recounts buying a 52-ounce bottle of Trader Joe’s brand orange juice with pulp. As she drank from it, she experienced a gagging sensation upon encountering what she thought was a large piece of pulp, only to realize she had almost finished the entire bottle beforehand.
The complaint describes how O’Neil, nearing the end of the juice, felt something unusual in her mouth, believing it to be a sizable pulp piece. The document states she inadvertently swallowed or ingested a human fingertip, which was embedded in the “end of a rubber glove.”
O’Neil claims she had been “periodically drinking” from the orange 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,” the complaint states. “She was and is concerned that the human hand that was in the tip of the glove was also severed and was part of the pulp.”
O’Neil says she 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, refused or neglected” to pay it, according to the complaint. The company did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment Wednesday.
O’Neil’s lawyer, Anthony Furniss, also did not respond to requests for comment.