In January 2023, Aimen Halim purchased boneless wings at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Mount Prospect, Illinois, expecting deboned chicken wing meat. Upon learning the product was made from chicken breast, he filed a federal class-action lawsuit in March 2023 alleging violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, breach of express warranty, common law fraud, and unjust enrichment. He sought approximately $10 million in damages and asked that the chain rename the product to something like 'chicken poppers.'
On February 17, 2026, Judge John Tharp Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the lawsuit. In a 10-page opinion laced with chicken puns, Tharp concluded that Halim failed to plausibly allege that 'reasonable consumers are deceived by boneless wings.' The judge noted the term has existed for over two decades, that the product is widely understood as chicken nugget-style pieces, and that Buffalo Wild Wings also offers cauliflower 'wings' — an analogy undercutting Halim's literal-naming argument.
Tharp also noted that boneless wings are priced lower than traditional wings, which common sense indicates they would not be if they required extra deboning labor. He referenced a 2024 Ohio Supreme Court ruling reaching a similar conclusion. Though dismissing the case, Tharp allowed Halim until March 20, 2026 to amend his complaint, while expressing skepticism that new facts could change the outcome.
This is not Halim's first consumer fraud lawsuit — he previously sued makers of Hefty recycling bags and Kind granola over deceptive wording, losing both.
