Portland woman sues Trader Joe's over alleged orange juice contamination

A Portland woman is suing Trader Joe’s over a bottle of orange juice she says left her sick after she found what looked like part of a rubber glove, and possibly a human fingertip, near the end of the drink.

The plaintiff, Julee O'Neil, filed the lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on April 20, 2026. The complaint says she bought a 52-ounce bottle of Trader Joe’s Organic Orange Juice with pulp on June 14, 2025, from the Trader Joe’s store at 4121 NE Halsey St. in Portland’s Hollywood neighborhood. According to the filing, O'Neil was finishing the bottle around June 19, 2025, when she felt what seemed like a large piece of pulp and later discovered an object that resembled the fingertip of a rubber glove. The complaint leaves open the possibility that it could have been a human fingertip.

The suit says O'Neil experienced gagging, nausea and a burning sensation in her mouth after the incident and later sought urgent care treatment. She is asking for $10,000 in damages, plus attorney fees and court costs. At least one report says she made the same $10,000 demand before filing suit.

Trader Joe’s had not publicly responded in the reporting available. No recall or regulator action was identified in the reporting, and the complaint itself focuses on the alleged contamination of a private-label product that many customers would treat as a basic grocery staple.

For Trader Joe’s workers, the case lands in a sensitive spot: the chain’s appeal rests heavily on customer trust in its in-house labels, from juice to snacks to prepared foods. An allegation that a sealed beverage contained a foreign object, especially one described in the pleadings as potentially a fingertip, is the kind of claim that can quickly move from a single store complaint to a broader question about product handling, vendor controls and store-level oversight.

The filing does not change the fact pattern on its own. It does, however, put a specific Portland location, a specific bottle size and a specific purchase date at the center of a consumer-safety dispute that could draw attention well beyond the Hollywood neighborhood store on Northeast Halsey Street.