Outback Steakhouse's Mashed Potatoes Have Landed The Chain In A $1.5M Lawsuit

A Virginia woman is suing Outback Steakhouse for $1.5 million over mashed potatoes. But fans of the fast-casual chain's potatoes needn't worry: The potatoes are still perfectly safe to eat. This isn't a situation where she got sick from food contaminated with radioactive material or found a bird foot in the food. Instead, the complaint alleges that Tracy J. Renshaw slipped and fell face-first on a substance which appeared to be mashed potatoes while heading to the bathroom.

Renshaw originally filed her complaint on March 5, 2025, in which she alleged that she fell on May 14, 2023, at an Outback Steakhouse location in Sterling, Virginia. Renshaw's complaint states, "[Outback] had a duty of ordinary care to warn those attempting to traverse that area ... of any unsafe conditions known to them." The complaint also states that the chain was obligated to clean up the slippery substance in a timely fashion. In failing to do so, the document alleged that Outback was responsible for Renshaw's ongoing and future health concerns: "Ms. Renshaw sustained serious and permanent injuries, [and] had suffered and will continue to suffer great pain of body and mind."

The complaint didn't give details on her injuries, but it does state that Renshaw is suing to recover money for medical bills and lost wages. She originally filed the suit in Loudoun County Circuit Court in May, and the lawsuit was moved to federal court last month. Outback has denied the allegations and requested that the action be removed.

According to Justina, defendants in slip and fall cases must prove that the property owner — in this case, Outback Steakhouse — or their employees either knew about the danger or should've known by exercising reasonable care. In Outback's request for removal, the chain claimed that it was not aware of any condition which would have contributed to Renshaw's fall and, as such, felt no duty to post a warning to customers. It also claimed that the conditions, as described in the lawsuit, should have been obvious to and therefore avoidable by Renshaw.

According to Blue Book Society, slip and fall cases are difficult to win in Virginia. Virginia is a contributory negligence state, which means that plaintiffs who are even slightly at fault — say, if they could've seen the hazard — can't recover. Most other states have more lenient laws.

The Sterling, VA, location where the incident allegedly took place permanently closed in August 2023. Outback has been closing a lot of restaurants lately, so the closure likely had nothing to do with the slippery substance.