Woman Sues Florida Strawberry Festival And A Petting Zoo

Tampa Tribune writer Dave Nicholson has also chimed in on our lawsuit filed on behalf of Diana Walker, a Pinellas County woman who was hospitalized for 16 days due to complications from an E. coli 0157:H7 infection after a visit to the Florida Strawberry Festival.

As the Tampa Tribune reported, health officials say at least 30 people got seriously ill after they attended the Strawberry Festival, Florida State Fair or Central Florida Fair. Genetic testing linked at least 22 of those cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication of the virulent 0157:H7 strain of E. coli, to animals at Ag-Venture Farm Shows. The Plant City company supplied animals to all three events.

As I said in the article:

``We named the Strawberry Festival as a plaintiff in this lawsuit because it is likely that Ag-Venture Farms will not have enough insurance to fully compensate victims of this outbreak.``

``Diana has not yet been able to return to work, and is being monitored for future complications of infection. Her time off work, and constant need for medical monitoring, has created a financial hardship she would not otherwise have faced."

Posted on May 6, 2005 by Marler Lawyer
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St. Petersburg woman is latest to file lawsuit over petting zoo infection

ABC Action News has also reported on Marler Clark's lawsuit filed on behalf of Diana Walters, who was infected with E. coli at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City earlier this year. From ABC's article:

Diana Walters is now home from the hospital, but she told Action News reporter Don Germaise that she's afraid she'll never be the same.

"At one point, I knew for sure I was going to die," she explained.

Diana's speech is still slurred from her near-death experience six weeks ago. She spent 16 days in the hospital, including nine in intensive care after contracting the infection.

The state has linked the outbreak of E. coli infections to a petting zoo that visited at least three fairs, including the Florida State Fair and the Strawberry Festival.

"You had to watch where you walked because there was manure laying -- I mean piles of manure -- laying in the walkways," she recalled.

Diana went to the Strawberry Festival with her young cousin, and she believes that's where she got sick enough to die.

"I could see my grandparents and my daddy saying, 'Come on, it's OK, it's OK. Follow the light over here,' - she continued.

The state believes more than two dozen people got sick from the petting zoo, but Diana is the first bay area resident to file suit, naming both the Strawberry Festival and the AgVenture petting zoo as defendants.

"I don't know who to blame. I think I would have to blame the petting zoo," Diana said.

But Diana's attorney told Action News that one reason the Strawberry Festival is also named in the suit is because the petting zoo may not have enough money to pay out.

Posted on May 4, 2005 by Marler Lawyer
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Outbreak victim to sue farm, fair

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.

Posted on May 4, 2005 by Marler Lawyer
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