Outback customer sues restaurant chain for $1.5 million, claiming she slipped on mashed potatoes

A Virginia woman is seeking $1.5 million from Outback Steakhouse after slipping on mashed potatoes, which she claims caused serious injury, according to a news report Wednesday.

Tracy J. Renshaw, 56, accuses the restaurant chain of failing to maintain safe conditions. She alleges the incident happened in 2023 while she and her family were eating in an Outback Steakhouse in Sterling, Virginia, CBS News reports.

Outback "breached their duties of care and were negligent in that they allowed a slippery foreign substance to remain on the floor, failed to remove the foreign substance within a reasonable amount of time,” according to the lawsuit.

The case was originally filed in Virginia's Loudoun County Circuit Court in May 2025, then moved to federal court last month. Renshaw claims she fell face first on the floor, suffering injuries, after slipping on a substance that appeared to be mashed potatoes, which has reduced her ability to work. The lawsuit does not provide detailed medical descriptions of her injuries.

The U.S.-owned Australian-themed casual dining restaurant chain has denied the allegations and has argued that it had no notice of any hazardous condition and that it had no obligation to warn people about the alleged spill. It also disputed claims about the level of Renshaw’s injuries, according to USA Today.