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Woman in Chipotle marketing photo sues for $2.2 billion

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Woman in Chipotle marketing photo sues for $2.2 billion

A California woman is suing Chipotle Mexican Grill for $2.2 billion, claiming the burrito chain restaurant used her image in promotional materials without her permission.

Leah Caldwell, a Sacramento resident who is representing herself, filed a lawsuit in federal court in U.S. District Court in Sacramento in December against the Denver-based chain and the photographer that allegedly shot the unauthorized photo of her, according to media reports. 

Ms. Caldwell wrote in her suit that the photographer approached her in 2006 as she was leaving a Chipotle restaurant in Denver, told her he had photographed her while she dined, and asked her to sign a release for the photographs. She declined, according to media outlets that gained access to her lawsuit.  

Eight years later, in 2014, Ms. Caldwell alleges saw her photograph on the wall of a Chipotle restaurant in Florida, and in March 2015, in two northern California locations.

In the advertisement, beer bottles had been digitally added to the table near her, which "put a false light upon her character associated with consuming alcoholic beverages," according to the suit.