TIGARD, Ore. – A family has filed a nearly $1 million lawsuit against the Tigard-Tualatin School District, a lead kitchen worker, and Fowler Middle School Principal Cindy Pellicci, after pretzels seasoned with crushed oven cleaner were served to more than 50 middle school students last year.
The lawsuit, filed on September 9, centers on an incident at Fowler Middle School on October 20, 2025. During sixth-grade lunch, approximately 37 pretzels coated with crushed Alto-Sham concentrated oven cleaner, a caustic industrial chemical containing sodium hydroxide, were served. According to Tigard-Tualatin School District records, more than 50 students consumed all or part of the tainted pretzels.
The school district described the incident as "human error," stating that a kitchen staff member mistook the oven cleaner for salt. Tigard Police reviewed the case but did not file criminal charges.
The family's lawsuit lays out seven claims, including strict liability, negligence, unlawful confinement, and violations of civil rights. It seeks damages totaling up to $950,220.85.
According to the lawsuit, the student at the center of the case, identified only as L.L., ate one of the tainted pretzels and immediately experienced burning in his mouth and throat, along with chest pain, stomach upset, and lingering anxiety about eating at school.
The filing also details the alleged minute-by-minute timeline of the school's response. It states that Poison Control was not contacted until 11:03 a.m., approximately 27 minutes after staff realized what had happened. The first email to families was not sent until nearly two hours after students had eaten the pretzels. The lawsuit further alleges that L.L. was kept in a room for roughly an hour, examined, and monitored without his parents being informed, and that requests to call home were denied. He was later sent back to class after staff reportedly said he was asymptomatic, although his mother states he came home with a sore throat and stomach pain.
These allegations are part of a broader negligence claim within the suit. The lawsuit contends that the district failed to store caustic chemicals away from food, failed to adequately train staff on handling such substances, and allowed a crushed cleaner puck to be left on a prep counter and subsequently used as seasoning.
The lawsuit relies heavily on the account of substitute kitchen worker Chloe Larson, whose story was previously reported by KPTV. According to the suit, Larson tasted the seasoning, felt a burning sensation, and then tracked down the discarded packet. She reportedly had to push the kitchen lead to flip the packet over to reveal it stated "oven cleaner." The complaint alleges the kitchen lead initially described the substance to administrators as soap.
KPTV had previously reported that the school district's outside attorney never interviewed Larson, and police only did so after she contacted them with her concerns. The lawsuit echoes this allegation, stating that the district interviewed seven staff members but not the substitute worker who was in the kitchen that day. Police closed their investigation the same day after speaking with the kitchen lead by phone, citing a lack of kitchen photos or video and an inability to establish probable cause. The kitchen lead reportedly told police the salt had become "cakey," though this account was not documented in police reports, nor was it heard in an interview police conducted with the kitchen lead, which KPTV obtained. The lawsuit further states that the kitchen lead provided differing explanations, first saying she was in a rush, and later, that she had crushed the cleaner to use on a steamer and left it out.
The complaint also includes three federal civil rights claims, arguing that L.L.’s family was cut out of medical decisions and that the student was exposed to a known danger. Legal experts note that proving such "shocks the conscience" and Monell policy-or-custom arguments can be difficult.
An attorney, Barrett Mersereau, has appeared for the defendants. However, as of October 23, a substantive answer to the lawsuit had not yet been filed. When reached for comment, the school district stated it cannot comment on pending litigation but confirmed that the kitchen lead involved in the incident remains employed within the district.