In a rather shocking and equally surprising incident, a Manhattan woman’s Zara dress came with an unwanted accessory — a dead rat sewn into the hem, according to a new lawsuit.
Cailey Fiesel bought two dresses from the Spanish clothier’s Greenwich, Conn. store last July, and hanged them in the closet after her purchase.
Fiesel, 24, wore the black dress for the first time in August 2016 to her job.
“While at work, she started to notice a disturbingly pungent odor and was unable to identify the source,” the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit charges. “Despite getting up from her desk and walking around, she was unable to escape this odor.
“As the day went on, Fiesel started to notice what felt like a loose string from her dress rubbing against her leg,” and “without giving it much thought she reached down with her hand to try and locate the piece of string that was rubbing against her.”
Court papers included several black-and-white photos of the dress “conspicuously depicting the dead rodent with at least one of its appendages protruding.”
“To her utter shock and disbelief, as she ran her hand over the hem of the dress she felt an unusual bulge and suddenly realized that it was not a string that was rubbing against her leg but was instead a leg rubbing against her leg. The leg of a dead rodent that is,” court papers claim.
“Fiesel jumped out of her chair in shock, people surrounded her desk to see what the commotion was while Fiesel was paralyzed with fear, she then ran to remove the dress,” the suit added. “After removing the dress she found that a dead rodent was sewn into the hem of the dress.”
“It’s disturbing,” said Adam Deutsch, who’s representing Fiesel. “It clearly comes from a lack of oversight in terms of what they’re putting on their shelves.”
In a statement to the Daily News, Zara said it’s “aware of the suit, and we are investigating the matter further.”
“Zara USA has stringent health and safety standards, and we are committed to ensuring that all of our products meet these rigorous requirements,” a Zara spokesman also said.
It is unclear what species of rodent was allegedly in Fiesel’s dress or how it got there.
“As a result of Zara’s negligence in manufacturing and selling a dress to Fiesel with a dead rodent inside, Fiesel has sustained significant personal injuries and emotional distress,” the suit says. “She formed a large rash that was diagnosed as a rodent born disease.”
Zara, Fiesel claims, had “manufactured, distributed, delivered, supplied, inspected, and/or sold the dress, which was unfit for its intended purpose and unreasonably hazardous, causing personal injury to the plaintiff.”
She also maintains the company “breached its duty to exercise reasonable care in designing, manufacturing, inspecting, distributing, delivering, supplying, inspecting, and/or selling its products by negligently releasing into the marketplace a product that was defective by containing disease causing rodents.”
Fiesel is seeking unspecified damages “in a sum that will fairly and adequately compensate her for the damages and injuries she has suffered.”
