Spicy 'Dragon Balls' lawsuit by San Jose doctor against Thai restaurant nears end

Ethan Baron, The Mercury News on Nov 4, 2026

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — A San Jose doctor and a Los Gatos restaurant have settled a long-running lawsuit by the doctor, who claimed a chicken-meatball dish called Dragon Balls was so spicy it burned her insides.

Harjasleen Walia in 2023 sued Coup de Thai — a fixture on the main strip of wealthy Los Gatos since 2014 — and alleged that while eating there with a friend in 2021, she suffered chemical burns to her vocal cords, esophagus and the inside of her right nostril from the appetizer. Walia claimed the dish left her with “permanent injuries.”

Walia sued the restaurant and its owner, Tanatcha Swangchaeng, along with the unnamed chef who cooked the appetizer, the unnamed waitress who took the order, and anyone working at the restaurant that day or before who “in any way influenced, designed, prepared, or participated in creating the Dragon Ball dish,” according to the lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Walia, a neurologist at HA Brain & Spine Center in west San Jose, sought unspecified damages, plus medical expenses and compensation for purportedly lost earnings. Her lawsuit also accused the defendants of failing to train Coup de Thai staff “to serve Thai iced tea or some other dairy-based product if a customer had a bad reaction to spice intensity.”

Now, the doctor and the restaurant have reached a settlement agreement to dismiss the case. A hearing for the court to review the dismissal is set for Dec. 17. A jury trial expected to last five to seven days had been scheduled to start Nov. 6.

Lawyer David Shane, representing Walia, said Wednesday he expected the case to be dismissed. Lawyers for both sides declined to discuss the terms of the settlement, saying the agreement was confidential.

The doctor’s lawsuit claimed the Dragon Balls were advertised as spicy, so she asked her server to have them made with less spice because she could not tolerate spicy food. The server “said that they would have the chef make them less spicy,” the lawsuit claimed. However, a supervisor at the restaurant told this news organization shortly after Walia’s lawsuit was filed that it was impossible for Dragon Balls to be made in a mild version because the chilis are inside them.

The lawsuit pointed a finger at Thai “bird’s eye” chilis as the pepper that caused the alleged burns.

A physician at the Washington, D.C.-based National Capital Poison Center, Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, told this news organization after the lawsuit was filed that eating Thai chilis — spicier than cayenne peppers but not as fiery as habaneros — can irritate the mouth and throat and cause nausea and heartburn. But, Johnson-Arbor said, “they are not associated with permanent tissue damage.”

Dragon Balls, $11 at the time of Walia’s lawsuit, remain on Coup de Thai’s menu at $13. On the restaurant’s website, they are listed first under “most popular dishes.”

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