NEW ROCHELLE, NY (July 15, 2026) — “Rob Rubico” — as he identified himself in this litigation — sued sandwich chain Cosi, Inc. and its New Rochelle franchise for a demand that would reach $2 million, claiming he found a metal meat-tenderizer needle in a sandwich purchased at the Cosi location on Quaker Ridge Road. After nearly three years of litigation, including a stretch where Cosi itself dissolved through federal bankruptcy proceedings without telling the court, the case ended in a settlement of $12,500.
The Claim
According to a Verified Complaint filed November 17, 2020 in Westchester County Supreme Court (Index No. 64768/2020), Rubico alleged that on September 10, 2020, he purchased a food item at Cosi at New Rochelle, 77 Quaker Ridge Road, that contained “a foreign object” which pierced the tissue of his inner cheek and caused him to bleed. The complaint — filed by attorney David J. Seidemann — asserted seven separate causes of action, including negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and fear of contracting an infectious disease, seeking damages that totaled several million dollars across the individual causes of action as pleaded.
By the time the case reached its Note of Issue and Certificate of Readiness on June 21, 2022, the demand was formally set at $2,000,000.
A Bill of Particulars filed September 8, 2022 specified the object as a “meat tenderizer needle,” alleged it “pierced the tissue of the plaintiff’s gum,” and identified the resulting treatment as a single consultation at an urgent care clinic on the same street as the restaurant. The Bill of Particulars checked “no permanent damages,” “no confinement,” and “no lost earnings.” It also disclosed, in response to a standard business-ownership interrogatory, that the plaintiff owned and managed Anna & Jack’s Treehouse at 138 Center Avenue, New Rochelle.
The evidentiary record in the case, as reflected in the court file, consists largely of the plaintiff’s own account. Aside from a photograph purporting to show the needle held between two fingers, the only medical documentation referenced is a single consultation at Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care on Quaker Ridge Road — steps from the Cosi location — after which the plaintiff was not confined and claimed no permanent damages, per his own Bill of Particulars. No medical report, imaging, or treatment record appears in the file. Defense counsel affirmatively waived a physical examination of the plaintiff, so no independent medical review was ever conducted. The Bill of Particulars also states that the plaintiff claimed a nearby business, Stamen Animal Hospital, had video footage of the incident — but that the hospital declined to share it, and no video was ever produced in the case. Cosi’s insurer ultimately settled the claim for $12,500 rather than litigate it to trial.
Stamen Animal Hospital’s connection to the incident is unclear: the veterinary practice sits at 61 Quaker Ridge Road, a neighboring address to the Cosi location, but nothing in the record explains why an exterior camera at a veterinary hospital would have captured what happened inside a sandwich shop, or why no subpoena was apparently issued to compel the footage rather than rely on an informal request that was declined.
The Numbers Narrow
By the September 12, 2022 settlement conference, the numbers looked very different from the pleadings. Plaintiff’s own Settlement Conference Form, filed by Seidemann’s office, listed the demand at $100,000 — a twentieth of the Note of Issue figure. Cosi’s counsel, Scott B. Pero of the Law Offices of John J. Bello, Jr. (retained through The Hartford, Cosi’s insurer), countered at $5,000, noting the insurance policy limit was $1 million and the defense’s contention was simply: “Defendants not negligent. No damage to plaintiff.”
A Defendant That No Longer Existed
The case dragged through two separate Trial Assignment Part scheduling conferences (December 20, 2022, and May 30, 2023) without a firm trial date. It was not until a May 26, 2023 letter to the court that defense counsel disclosed something unusual: Cosi, Inc. had gone through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, and its reorganization plan had become effective on August 9, 2022 — roughly seven weeks after Rubico’s own Note of Issue had been filed. Per Pero’s letter, “Cosi, Inc. as an entity is no longer in existence.” Defense counsel stated he had learned the details from a former Cosi Chief Legal and Administrative Officer and was only then informing the court and plaintiff’s counsel of the corporate status.
The court record does not explain why the bankruptcy’s effect on the litigation was not raised with the court until nine months after the reorganization’s effective date.
Settlement
On October 23, 2023 — the day before a scheduled court appearance — Pero notified Judge Lewis J. Lubell that the case had settled for $12,500. A Stipulation of Discontinuance with Prejudice was filed October 30, 2023, closing the matter without costs to either side.
Editor’s note: On July 9, 2026, Robert Cox was served with four plenary summonses issued by the Irish High Court (Record Nos. 3331, 3337, 3338, and 3339/2026P) by Sheehan & Partners LLP on behalf of Rubicco-associated LLCs. Talk of the Sound continues reporting on matters of public record.
RELATED
Robert P. Rubicco: Criminal, Liar, Fraud, Daycare Operator: Table of Contents
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
Have information about this story? Email robertcox@talkofthesound (preferred) or contact via WhatsApp: +353 089 972 0669.