Louisiana Arby’s Manager Found Dead in Walk-In Freezer Due to Known Broken Latch

The family of an Arby’s manager is suing for $1,000,000 after their mother was found dead inside of a Louisiana store’s walk-in freezer with a known broken latch.

On May 11, Nguyet Le was dropped off in the early morning to start her shift. Her oldest son, Nguyen Le, also an employee at the New Iberia Arby’s, discovered his mother’s body in the freezer when he arrived for his shift at 10 a.m.

According to the court documents:

The investigating officer relayed that inside of the door of the freezer had been bloodied leading him to conclude Ms. Le panicked once locked inside and beat her hands bloody trying to escape or get someone’s attention. Ultimately, she collapsed into a fetal position face down on the frozen floor.

An autopsy found her cause of death to be hypothermia.

The lawsuit was filed in Harris County District Court on May 25 by the 63-year-old victim’s four children. They are suing Arby’s, the store’s franchise owner Sunshine Holding, and its subsidiary Turbo Restaurants for gross negligence in Nguyet Le’s death, according to court documents.

Le worked as a general manager in Houston for Turbo Foods. She was requested by her direct supervisor to relocate to the store in New Iberia, Louisiana — more than 200 miles away — for four weeks, but it was extended to six weeks.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Finster (whose first name did not appear in the court documents) — regional manager of Turbo Foods — had had knowledge of the New Iberia store’s broken freezer latch since August 2022, when he personally visited the store.

“They acted with conscious indifference in failing to repair the latch for nearly 9 months,” the lawsuit stated.

The employees would use a screwdriver to open and close the freezer door, and they would use a box of oil to keep the freezer door open when they were inside, according to court documents.

The lawsuit states that Turbo Foods and Sun Holdings claim to be the second-largest franchise organization in the country, owning “over one thousand Applebee’s, Arby’s, Burger Kings, Golden Corral’s, IHOPs, McAlister’s, Papa John’s and Taco Buenos across twelve states.”