990857 Hindus Lose Toco Bell "Meat-in-Rice Claim"August 28, 1999Lincoln, NE - A Hindu couple have failed to convince a judge that Taco Bell should help pay their way to India because they were inadvertently served meat. Siva Rama Krishna Valluru and wife Sailaja - lifelong vegetarians - said they found meat in rice they had eaten at a Taco Bell restaurant in November. Eating meat is a sin for some Hindus, and the Vallurus wanted the fast-food chain to help pay for a trip to India so they could be cleansed in a purification ceremony in the Ganges River. The company refused, and the couple filed a claim in Lancaster County Small Claims Court, seeking $2,100 each. County Judge Jean Lovell dismissed the claim because it did not show the rice was tainted or unfit for human consumption. She also said damages claimed by the couple were not foreseeable, even if the restaurant broke a contract to serve them meatless rice. Valluru, a doctoral student in agriculture at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, said he and his wife plan to go to India anyway. “It's a must for me that I do it,” he said.
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