In a St. Petersburg Times article today that called Marler Clark "the Erin Brockovich of law firms handling food-borne and E. coli poisoning cases," reporter Saundra Amrhein wrote about our client Diana Walters, a 48-year-old St. Petersburg resident who became ill with E. coli infection on March 18, six days after visiting an Ag-Venture Farms petting zoo at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City.

As my firm told the St. Petersburg Times, the petting zoo's pockets alone aren't deep enough to compensate all those sickened. We plan to file the suit on behalf of Walters today in Hillsborough County Circuit Court against Ag-Venture Farms and the Strawberry Festival, because we anticipate that Ag-Venture Farms alone won't have enough insurance to compensate the victims of the outbreak.

Walters was hospitalized at St. Petersburg General Hospital for 16 days and underwent blood transfusions and a plasma exchange to fight a life-threatening complication of E. coli infection.

Statewide, 30 people were confirmed to have been infected, and 50 more are suspected cases, according to state Health Department spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges.

Marler Clark is also representing an Orlando resident who contracted an E. coli infection after attending the Central Florida State Fair in Orlando.