A San Jose doctor who sued a Los Gatos restaurant claiming its “Dragon Balls” appetizer was so spicy it burned her internally has dropped her lawyer and is representing herself in the court case.

Harjasleen Walia in July 2023 filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court alleging she “incurred permanent injuries and will forever be damaged” by the $11 chicken-meatball dish at Coup de Thai in downtown Los Gatos. The appetizer burned Walia’s vocal cords, esophagus and the inside of her right nostril, the lawsuit claimed.

A May filing in the case showed Walia has elected to substitute herself for the lawyer who had been representing her.

Walia, a neurologist at HeadacheAwayMD Brain & Spine Center in west San Jose, did not respond to questions about why she was representing herself

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