The children of Nguyet Le, who died earlier this month while working at a Louisiana Arby’s, are suing for negligence. Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock.com
- The children of a woman who died at a Louisiana Arby’s earlier this month are suing for negligence.
- The lawsuit alleges that Nguyet Le died because a broken freezer led to her being locked in the restaurant alone.
- The lawsuit also alleges that several managers knew the latch was open at least nine months before Le’s death.
The family of a woman who died earlier this month after being locked in a freezer at Arby’s in Louisiana is suing the restaurant chain and the store’s franchise owners for negligence and wrongful death.
Local police confirmed to Insider’s Grace Mayer earlier this month that a woman, later identified as 63-year-old Nguyet Le, was found dead in the freezer of an Arby’s in New Iberia, Louisiana. The lawsuit, filed Thursday by Le’s four children in District Court for Harris County, Texas, where the family lives, provides new details about the events leading up to her death, including alleging a latch on the freezer door has been broken since been knowingly broken into for months.
According to court documents, Le worked for Turbo Restaurants, a subsidiary of Sun Holdings, which operates hundreds of chain franchise locations across the country, including Arby’s, Burger King and Applebee’s, among others.
She was the general manager of an Arby’s in Houston and was given a temporary assignment in February to manage the New Iberia location about 230 miles away. Months before Le’s arrival, New Iberia Arby’s employees reported to their district and regional managers that the latch on the walk-in freezer door had been broken since at least August 2022, the lawsuit says.
According to court documents, the employees allegedly used a screwdriver to open the door and often braced the door with a box to keep the freezer, which company policies kept at -10 degrees Fahrenheit or below, from fully closing.
On the morning of May 11, Le arrived before other employees, including her son Nguyen, were due to open the restaurant at 10 a.m., the lawsuit says. While going about her usual opening chores, Le remained trapped in the freezer and was unable to open the door until Nguyen and other staff arrived and found that she had died. Preliminary autopsy findings indicate she died of hypothermia.
According to the lawsuit, the officer who investigated the scene and determined it was an accident found blood on the inside of the freezer door, which he says indicated she “paniced as soon as she was locked inside, and bloodied her hands trying to escape or to get hold of someone.” Attention.”
“Ultimately, she collapsed face down on the frozen ground in a fetal position,” the lawsuit reads.
Le’s children are seeking at least $1 million in damages, alleging that Arby’s and the franchisees acted negligently by failing to inspect and repair the broken freezer latch for at least nine months.
Paul Skrabanek, Le’s family attorney, told Louisiana news station KLFY that one of the reasons the family decided to sue was because Arby’s allegedly stopped responding to his legal notices.
Arby’s did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment Sunday afternoon, but an earlier statement on the incident is cited on Skrabanek’s website.
“We are aware of the incident that occurred at our franchise location in New Iberia, LA,” Arby’s said in a statement. “The Franchisee is cooperating fully with local authorities in conducting its investigation. As this is an active investigation, we defer any further comment to the police.”
Read the full lawsuit:
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