Marler Blog : Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : Bill Marler : Marler Clark

We filed two lawsuits today - one against Cargill on behalf of a Minnesota boy who became ill after eating an E. coli-contaminated hamburger and another on behalf of a Michigan man who became ill after eating a Salmonella-contaminated turkey pot pie.

In the Minnesota case:

According to the complaint, Scott Reber ate a hamburger made from a Cargill ground beef patty on September 22. By September 25, Scott had developed a gastrointestinal illness with symptoms typical of E. coli infection, and was hospitalized on September 28. While he was hospitalized, Scott’s parents learned that a stool specimen submitted for testing had tested positive for E. coli O157:H7.

Elk River family sues Cargill for E. coli

An Elk River family filed the second E. coli lawsuit against Cargill.  Elk River residents John and Barb Reber’s son Scott, 7, became ill with E. coli after eating a hamburger made from a Cargill ground beef patty.  According to the complaint, Scott ate a hamburger on Sept. 22 and by Sept. 25 had developed a gastrointestinal illness with symptoms typical of E. coli. He was hospitalized on Sept. 28.

And in the Michigan case:

According to the lawsuit, David Small ate a Banquet brand turkey pot pie on Saturday, September 24, 2007 and became ill with symptoms of Salmonella infection the following day. Mr. Small’s symptoms worsened over the next days, and he sought medical attention at Munson Medical Center on September 27, 2007. He was admitted and remained hospitalized until September 29. Mr. Small later learned that his stool specimen had tested positive for Salmonella serotype I 4,[5],12:i:-, the strain associated with the Banquet pot pie outbreak.

TC man sues over tainted pot pie

David Small regularly ate pot pies for lunch, but a recent bout with salmonella prompted the Traverse City man to sue the company that produced the tainted pies.  Small, 51, filed a lawsuit Thursday against ConAgra Foods Inc. and Tom's Food Markets Inc. after he said he was infected with salmonella in September.  ConAgra recalled all of its store-brand and Banquet pot pies Oct. 11 after a investigation by the Centers for Disease Control linked the tainted pies to recent salmonella outbreaks in several states.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I am not surprised that they found cows and cow poop near spinach fields - I found the same a week ago traveling through Salinas:

 

From AP story of this morning:  E. coli Find Shows Difficult Mix Of Cattle, Spinach

Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer representing 93 people who got sick eating spinach and the families of two who died, said processors and packagers of greens are also responsible for ensuring their safety.

"From a victim's perspective, Dole, Natural Selection and this farm are on the hook," Marler said. "It's their collective responsibility to step up and deal with these claims."

This story also has a great video.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

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."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

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.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

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.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As Tim Hay of the San Mateo County Times reported today, a multinational food company and a Salinas vegetable farm have been ordered to pay an undisclosed amount to an elderly woman who was sickened in an outbreak of E. coli in a local retirement home, as well the son of a woman who died after eating the same tainted spinach in October 2003.

Marler Clark sued Sodexho USA and River Ranch Fresh Foods after an outbreak of the food-borne illness sickened at least 16 people and caused the deaths of two others at the Sequoias Portola Valley retirement community.

County health officials said the outbreak was most likely caused by pre-packaged spinach that Sodexho bought from River Ranch and served at the 315-bed home.

Marler Clark represented Keith McWalter, whose 85-year-old mother, Alice McWalter, died when the E. coli caused kidney failure. Mrs. McWalter was hospitalized on Oct. 14, and suffered 12 days of fever and nausea before she died.

The other Marler Clark client was Sequoias resident Sarah Ish. She was hospitalized with severe nausea during the outbreak, but pulled through.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As the The Salinas Californian reports, legal consequences of two food-borne illness outbreaks that sickened at least 63 people and killed one in 2003 have returned to the Salinas Valley, where state investigators say lettuce and spinach -- contaminated at an unknown point before they were eaten -- were grown.

Beginning with those infected with E. coli 0157:H7 by the tainted produce, lawsuits have blossomed throughout the food-growing and distribution chain. Now River Ranch Fresh Foods and Diamond Produce, the two companies said to have grown the contaminated lettuce and spinach, have taken preliminary steps toward suing Monterey County.

Lawyers for the two Salinas-area companies say the Monterey County Water Resources Agency failed to maintain Santa Rita Creek, resulting in flooding in 2003 that spread waste across a field where produce was grown.

From the article:

Forty of the customers sickened at Pat & Oscar's sued the restaurant chain and settled their claims just before Christmas, said Bill Marler, a Seattle attorney who represented 29 of them.

Marler also represents the family of McWalter and Sarah Ish, another sickened Sequoias resident, in lawsuits against Sodexho USA, he said.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As the Herald Salinas Bureau reports, Marler Clark clients who were victims of an E. coli outbreak involving contaminated vegetables grown in Salinas Valley are settling their claims against the restaurants serving tainted produce in 2003.

But the legal cases continue while the restaurant owners attempt to pin the blame on Salinas Valley produce companies, and operators of those produce companies blame the Monterey County Water Resources Agency.

Terms of the settlement agreement between the restaurants and the approximately 49 victims of the outbreak are confidential. Not all those claims have been settled, but most have.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Half Moon Bay fruit-juice maker Odwalla Inc. has reached a settlement -- reportedly for $12 million to $15 million -- with the families of five young victims of a 1996 food-poisoning outbreak caused by a tainted batch of the company's apple juice.

The hefty settlement brings closer to an end a painful saga for the company and victims' families, which began when Washington health authorities announced the outbreak at Halloween a year and a half ago. The company now has settled 17 lawsuits, with three remaining.

"It's behind us now and we will move on," said Terry Beverly of Seattle, a Microsoft engineer whose son, now 4, hovered near death after being stricken with an advanced stage of poisoning caused by a deadly microbe known as E. coli O157:H7.

"We're very pleased to be able to fully compensate these children and to move forward with the families and with the lawyers to address the bigger issues of food-safety awareness," said Chris Gallagher, a company official.

The settlement calls for an undisclosed amount of money to be placed in trust for the victims, five children who became seriously ill after drinking the tainted apple juice in Washington and Colorado. The youngsters have since resumed normal lives but will need to be monitored for years for potential long-term consequences.

The New York Times said the company agreed to pay $12 million to $15 million to the families. Odwalla and the families' attorney said the terms of the settlement were confidential.

William Marler, the Seattle attorney who represented the five families, said the amounts of the settlements "will be substantial enough to fully compensate the children and their families for what they went through and may encounter in the future."

The lawsuits were filed by the families of Michael Beverly, 4, Katherine Wright, 4, and Brooke Hiatt of Seattle; Brian Dimock, 7, of Washington, D.C., and Amanda Berman, 5, of Chicago. The families reached the settlement in talks with Odwalla Chairman Greg Steltenpohl and chief executive officer Stephen Williamson, and Odwalla's insurance firm.

"You know, it was tough for Odwalla to face all of us," said Richard Dimock, father of a victim. "We got to talk across the table from them. . . . It was an emotional two days for everybody."

The outbreak was caused by a highly toxic microorganism, E. coli, which tainted a batch of apple juice bottled at Odwalla's processing plant in Dinuba. Seventy people were sickened by the juice and a 16-month old Colorado girl died. The poisoning was a shock to the young, fast-growing company, which promoted its unpasteurized juices as nutritious health foods. The company now pasteurizes its apple juice.

A federal grand jury in Fresno is investigating the outbreak, examining several issues, among them whether the company properly reported its own tests which found another bacteria -- Listeria monocytogenes -- in samples of its juices in early 1996.

E. coli poisoning, which has been a growing problem worldwide for the past few years, can have devastating consequences for the very young, the elderly and the immune-suppressed, such as AIDS victims. Four of the five children suffered the most acute phase, hemolytic uremic syndrome, in which the kidneys shut down.

Parent Beverly said his son "was nearly dead" after drinking the tainted juice and suffering the horrific illness that E. coli causes in some youngsters.

"The doctors weren't sure he was going to pull through. It was up to his little body. . . . He had heart murmurs, lung (problems), his kidney shut down. I was really scared. One night the doctor came up and told us he might die tonight. I broke down in tears. . . . You can have all the money in the world, but with a sick 2-year-old, you have to have faith in God. You're totally helpless and at the mercy of this disease and it's up to his little body to get him through it."

Beverly said that during the mediation, he met with Steltenpohl and Williamson and was convinced of their sincerity. "They said they were very sorry. I know they were sincere about this. They have kids too."

Williamson, Odwalla's CEO, said "our sympathy will forever be extended to the individuals and families who were affected by this."

After the 1996 recall of its apple juice, the company implemented a juice-safety program that meets and exceeds current Federal Drug Administration proposed fresh-juice requirements.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A Washington state court yesterday approved the settlement of a lawsuit under which a 12-year-old girl who nearly died after eating a tainted hamburger will get $15.6 million.

Under the settlement Foodmaker Inc., operator of Jack in the Box restaurants, meat processor Von Stores Inc. and various slaughterhouses will pay the sum to Brianne Kiner, said her lawyer, William Marler.

Kiner, who fell into a 42-day coma after eating a hamburger at a Jack in the Box restaurant in January 1993, was the most seriously affected survivor of meat tainted with the E. coli bacteria that killed three children.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Washington Supreme Court today declined to review last year's Court of Appeals decision upholding a $4.6 million award to 11 children injured in a 1998 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that was linked to undercooked taco meat served as part of a school lunch at Finley Elementary School. School District had sought the Supreme Court's review arguing that school districts should not be held legally responsible if ill-prepared food sickens or kills a student. The Supreme Court refused to consider the argument.

Denis Stearns, one of the founding partners at Marler Clark, said:

"Washington State has a long history of holding school accountable when the children in their care are injured or killed. We believe that the Supreme Court's decision today reaffirms the principle that, when it comes to preparing food for their students, a school's foodservice operation should be held to the same high standard as any other restaurant licensed to operate in this State."

"School-aged children are more vulnerable than most when it comes to exposure to contaminated food. Those who argue for lower-standards plainly do not understand what the problem is, or what is truly at stake. If anything, schools should be held to the highest standards. These are our children we are talking about."

In its investigation of the outbreak, the Washington State Department of Health found that the Finley School under-cooked the taco meat. The Department further found the "differences in the preparation, handling, and transport of meat may have allowed for uneven cooking, uneven cooling, and uneven re-heating at the elementary school. This outbreak and the resulting investigation highlight the importance of regular inspections of institutional kitchens and the need for training of food service workers."

In declining to accept review of the Court of Appeals decision, the Supreme Court foreclosed any further legal options for the school district and its insurers. Stearns said:

"While this day has been long in coming, it is a day that our clients are grateful for. They will get the compensation that the jury found them so deserving of, and can now get on with their lives."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Back in late 2003, Todd Frankel of the Post-Dispatch called dining with me an unusual experience in his article "Seattle attorney is representing 5 of 6 victims in E. coli outbreak," which referred to the Habaneros E. coli outbreak in Missouri.

I told him:

"I haven't eaten a hamburger since Jack in the Box," Marler said, referring to the massive 1993 E. coli outbreak on the West Coast that served as his first experience with his narrow specialty.

"The level of trust we have toward our food supply, in my view, is unwarranted," Marler said, taking another bite of his salad.

In case you were wondering, I'm still not eating hamburgers.

He also wrote:

He doesn't go trolling for business, he said. He's been involved in several high-profile outbreaks: from salmonella in fruit juices to E. coli at an Atlanta water park.

I'm still not trolling. Yet those cases still keep finding me.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Marler Clark has settled with Supervalu and American Foods Group on behalf of the parents of Sonja Pearson, a young girl who became seriously ill after eating E. coli-contaminated ground beef that was supplied by AFG to Supervalu's Cub Foods subsidiary.

More than 40 people in the Upper Midwest became ill during the E. coli outbreak in December 2000, including Pearson, who was then 2 years old and incurred medical bills for $ 220,000 during a month-long hospital stay for kidney failure caused by the contaminated meat.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Marler Clark got BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. and a meat supplier to agree to pay $ 11 million to the family of a New York girl developed HUS after eating contaminated hamburgers.

We also represent a young boy whose family bought tainted hamburger from another BJ's Wholesale Club store.

As I said in the article:

The amount "is never enough to make it right," since the 8-year-old girl will have "life-long" health problems as a result of her injuries.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Some good news for one of my young clients who went through the agony of HUS from eating a hamburger. Stephen Tyler Roberts, now 13, but at the time a fifth-grader, was hospitalized and needed several blood transfusions in April 1998. He was one of the unfortunate children at Danielsville Elementary School who ate the hamburgers served in the school cafeteria, which turned out to be contaminated with the deadly E. coli O157:H7.

This contaminated meat went to schools, prisons and military institutions in the South. The meat was supplied by Bauer Meat Co. in Ocala Florida, which since declared bankruptcy.

As I said in the article Boy's Family Settles Lawsuit Over E. coli:

Stephen did not need dialysis to help him recover, a scenario many young children undergo when their kidneys shut down from E. coli poisoning. However, future consequences resulting from the E. coli episode may be further complicated by the boy's diabetes, said Marler, a Seattle attorney specializing in food-borne lawsuits. "With diabetes, it's harder to predict what the long-term damage of E. coli will be," he said. "But, now he's doing great."

Marler contends U.S. schoolchildren continue to be at risk for eating contaminated meat because school districts get the beef for free from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's school lunch program, which has bought the lower- grade beef at reduced prices. The USDA is the same federal agency overseeing meat plant safety. Two schools in Washington and Texas had E. coli outbreaks last year.

"It is time for the USDA to act to ensure that our children are not eating food that is contaminated," Marler said.

The USDA is currently being probed for its school lunch program by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

NBC17.com also did a story about my Crossroads Farm Petting Zoo lawsuit. From their article:

"Twenty-four outbreaks have been linked to fairs and petting zoos since 1995," said attorney William Marler, of the Seattle law firm Marler Clark. "Any operator of a petting zoo should be well-versed in the ways of preventing E. coli infections among their patrons and should have procedures in place to do just that. At this petting zoo, procedures were woefully inadequate to prevent an outbreak."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Globe Staff Writer Wally Kennedy has reported that the E. coli outbreak that hit a Joplin day-care center in May and June, affecting as many as 26 children, has generated its first lawsuit.

My firm filed this lawsuit against Kid's Korner Day Care Center last week on behalf of Patricia and Asa Wasden, parents of Ian Wasden, a 2-year-old boy who suffered from hemolytic uremic syndrome after contracting the E. coli bacteria in June. Health officials instructed the managers of Kid's Korner to notify the families of all children enrolled there of the outbreak to prevent illnesses, but the Wasdens never received notification from the center.

It wasn't until June 1, the date that Ian Wasden fell ill with symptoms related to his E. coli infection, that his parents learned about the outbreak.

Drew Falkenstein, a lawyer with Marler Clark in Seattle, said Wednesday in a telephone interview: "The day-care center was responsible for our client's E. coli infection under the facts that have been revealed.

"Where it came from, the mode of transmission into the day care, we are not sure. But, we do know our client's parents were not informed of the outbreak, and they are responsible for that and the child's subsequent infection."

Falkenstein said Ian Wasden was hospitalized for nearly three weeks, and that he went through a full week of kidney dialysis, seven blood transfusions, three surgeries and a severe case of pancreatitis.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Marler Clark filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of Patricia and Asa Wasden, the parents of Ian Wasden, a two-year-old boy who suffered from Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) after contracting E. coli O157:H7 last June at Kid's Korner daycare in Joplin.

"After the first child attending Kid's Korner tested positive for E. coli, the daycare operators should have notified all parents and taken extra precautions to ensure that no other children became ill," said William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. "Instead, they continued to operate the daycare as if nothing was wrong, which probably led to dozens of illnesses that could have been prevented."

Through interviews with families, officials from the Joplin Health Department and the Missouri Department of Health learned that Kid's Korner failed to notify 32% of families whose children had attended the daycare and were therefore exposed to E. coli O157:H7. Overall, 26 children attending Kid's Korner experienced diarrhea during the month of May, and four submitted stool samples that cultured positive for E. coli O157:H7.

"When you look at the facts, particularly the Health Department report, it is obvious that Kid's Korner showed a blatant disregard for the safety of Ian Wasden and all other children who attended their daycare," Marler concluded. During their investigation, officials visited the daycare on several occasions, and noted numerous "non-compliances" that were considered "likely to be linked to disease transmission."

Ian Wasden was hospitalized for nearly three weeks, undergoing a full week of kidney dialysis, seven blood transfusions, three surgeries, and a severe case of pancreatitis. He was released from Children's Mercy Hospital on June 20, 2004, but continues to suffer from painful abdominal cramping. His kidneys have not fully recovered from the effects of E. coli and HUS.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

On Thursday, Marler Clark filed a second E. coli lawsuit against Sodexho, Inc., the food provider for Sequoias Portola Valley retirement facility. This second lawsuit was filed by Sarah Ish, one of thirteen Sequoias residents and employees who confirmed positive with E. coli infections during the outbreak, and one of seven residents who were hospitalized for treatment of their E. coli infections. Health officials traced the outbreak to contaminated raw spinach which was served to Sequoias residents by Sodexho.

"Senior citizens are more at-risk for foodborne illness because, as we age, our immune systems weaken. Ms. Ish's body had to fight harder to rid itself of the E. coli bacteria," said William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. "Ms. Ish continues to suffer from confusion and loss of energy as a consequence of her E. coli infection, nearly a year after she was hospitalized."

This is the second E. coli lawsuit brought against Sodexho by Marler Clark and Keeney, Waite & Stevens. The first was brought on behalf of the family of Alice McWalter, a Sequoias resident who died as a result of her E. coli infection. "Sodexho to date has shown no interest in discussing a fair resolution to this or any of the cases, it is time to force them to be responsible," said Marler.

"I've said it before, but the food industry in California was, or should have been, extremely concerned with fresh produce safety at the time of this outbreak, since an outbreak in the San Diego area had been traced to E. coli-contaminated lettuce just weeks before," Marler concluded.

Forty-six residents and employees at the Sequoias reported symptoms of E. coli infection during the San Mateo County Health Services Agency investigation of the outbreak.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As Jane Lerner of the Journal News reported today, Marler Clark has filed a lawsuit against BJ's Wholesale Club on behalf of the parents of a Bergen County, N.J., boy who got sick from a strain of bacteria identical to the one that nearly killed a Rockland girl two years ago.

Three-year-old Owen Langan of Wyckoff developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) after eating a hamburger made from ground beef that a family friend bought at the BJ's in Paramus. Owen got sick in May 2002, around the same time that two Rockland girls became ill after eating ground beef purchased at the BJ's in West Nyack.

One girl recovered at home. The other, age 6, developed severe complications of E. coli infection, including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). She spent more than a month at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where she underwent blood transfusions and developed kidney failure, pancreatitis, hypertension, a blood-clotting disorder and seizures. She recovered, but continues to suffer medical complications as a result of eating the tainted hamburger. In April, her family reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with BJ's to cover medical expenses.

The strain of bacteria that sickened Owen Langan was genetically identical to the strain that made the two Rockland girls sick. Owen spent 14 days in the hospital and developed kidney failure, which required treatment by dialysis.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

From a recent article in the San Mateo County Times:

The families of several local E. coli sufferers have contacted a Seattle-based lawyer who has collected tens of millions of dollars in settlements in food-poisoning cases. William Marler, a personal-injury attorney who has represented hundreds of E. coli, salmonella and botulism victims, said Tuesday several County families have called his office to inquire about filing lawsuits.

As the outbreak of E. coli in the Sequoias-Portola Valley retirement community went into its 19th day Tuesday, one of two sufferers who had remained hospitalized at Stanford Medical Center was released.

And the family of Alice McWalter -- the 85-year-old resident who died from kidney failure related to E. coli on Sunday -- began preparing for a memorial service at her beloved Valley Presbyterian Church in Portola Valley.

As the San Mateo County Times reported, health officials are still tracking the source of the outbreak, which sickened dozens of residents and staff members at the retirement center since it was reported Oct. 9. County Health Officer Scott Morrow said Monday that "food and food handlers" were being closely scrutinized, and said a report on the cause of the outbreak should be completed within a week.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Marler Clark and Keeney, Waite & Stevens filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Christopher and Karie Galindo, and their daughter, Kayce, who is suffering from a severe E. coli O157:H7 infection after consuming contaminated lettuce at Pat & Oscar's on September 28. The lawsuit was filed against Gold Coast Produce and Family Tree Produce in San Diego County Superior Court.

As Marler Clark stated in a recent press release:

"This is the second E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated lettuce in two years," said William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. "It is outrageous that produce suppliers are not taking proper precautions to keep our food supply safe. Something must be done to protect our children from being served food laced with deadly pathogens."

Approximately forty people, including Kayce Galindo, became ill with E. coli infections in late September and early October after consuming lettuce at different Pat & Oscar's restaurants. Several school children became ill after consuming contaminated lettuce served in their school lunches. Marler Clark and Keeney, Waite, & Stevens have been retained by over a dozen victims.

Kayce, a sixteen-year-old student and varsity volleyball player at Carlsbad High School, began experiencing severe abdominal cramping and bloody diarrhea two days after she ate a salad at Pat & Oscar's, and was hospitalized at Children's Hospital in San Diego for three days, then was discharged to recuperate. Kayce has again been hospitalized, after developing Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, or HUS, a life-threatening complication of E. coli infections that often leads to kidney failure.

"This latest outbreak is the tenth E. coli outbreak in the last ten years that has been traced to contaminated lettuce," said Marler, whose firm represents several victims of a similar outbreak last summer that resulted in the illnesses of over fifty campers at a dance camp at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington. "The lettuce packaging boasted that the product sold to Pat & Oscars and the School Districts was 'three-times pre-washed.' The problem is, if the produce or irrigation water came into contact with cattle or cattle feces during cultivation and harvest, washing would not have prevented any illnesses. The bacteria would have been inside the lettuce, not on the surface."

As I said in the press release, we filed this lawsuit based on California's Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Laws and the California Health and Safety Code. Under these laws, a manufacturer of food is "strictly liable" for injuries caused by food that was not "reasonably safe." A food product is not reasonably safe if it does not meet a consumer's reasonable expectations of safety. Because consumers reasonably expect the food they consume to be free of pathogens, the manufacturer of any food item that is contaminated with a pathogen, such as E. coli O157:H7 is liable to those who were harmed by consuming the product.

"Typically, when people think about E. coli O157:H7, they think, 'hamburger,'" Marler concluded. "Consumers understand now that E. coli comes from cattle feces, and are especially careful when cooking ground beef. What they don't realize is that if farmers aren't careful, cattle feces can also contaminate fresh produce that doesn't get cooked to a high enough temperature to kill the bacteria, or doesn't get cooked at all - as in the case of lettuce."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Todd Frankel of the Post-Dispatch called dining with me an unusual experience in his recent article "Seattle attorney is representing 5 of 6 victims in E. coli outbreak," which refers to the recent Habaneros E. coli Outbreak in Missouri. As Frankel reported:

"I haven't eaten a hamburger since Jack in the Box," Marler said, referring to the massive 1993 E. coli outbreak on the West Coast that served as his first experience with his narrow specialty.

"The level of trust we have toward our food supply, in my view, is unwarranted," Marler said, taking another bite of his salad.

As well as food, Frankel and I discussed the recent Missouri E. coli outbreak. As I told Frankel, I was in St. Louis two weeks after the Habaneros outbreak was first publicized. I've been contacted by two of the victims' families.

"He doesn't go trolling for business, he said. He's been involved in several high-profile outbreaks: from salmonella in fruit juices to E. coli at an Atlanta water park.

Marler said he hopes to avoid filing suit in the Habaneros case. He has been talking with the restaurant's insurance carrier to work out payment for the victims' medical bills. He estimated that the most seriously injured, Patty Timko, would have bills in excess of $250,000.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The families of 11 children sickened by E. coli bacteria in a school lunch nearly five years ago will likely get the $4.6 million awarded by a jury.

A Benton County Superior jury awarded $4.6 million in early 2001 after finding the district at fault for serving undercooked meat in tacos to Finley Elementary School students in October 1998.

The district's insurers had asked the state's highest court to consider the case, but the justices refused on Thursday for the second time.

Marler Clark's Denis Stearns said:

"The only option remaining is to ask the high court to reconsider, but succeeding in that bid would be highly unlikely in a case the justices have twice refused."

The affected families are glad the court battle is over. Five years have passed since the kids ate the tainted taco lunch, and these families still have medical bills to pay.

2-year-old Faith Maxwell was awarded $3.6 million, plus past medical expenses, even though she didn't eat the contaminated taco meal. She was infected by a child who ate the lunch and suffered serious kidney problems that are expected to cause her kidneys to fail.

The other 10 children's awards started at $1,200 plus medical expenses. Children besides Faith who had kidney problems and were taken to Children's Hospital in Seattle were awarded about $275,000, plus past medical expenses.

Most of the money not spent on medical expenses so far will be held in trust for the children's education and medical expenses.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Washington Supreme Court today declined to review last year's Court of Appeals decision upholding a $4.6 million award to 11 children injured in a 1998 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that was linked to undercooked taco meat served as part of a school lunch at Finley Elementary School. School District had sought the Supreme Court's review arguing that school districts should not be held legally responsible if ill-prepared food sickens or kills a student. The Supreme Court refused to consider the argument.

Denis Stearns, one of the founding partners at Marler Clark, said:

"Washington State has a long history of holding school accountable when the children in their care are injured or killed. We believe that the Supreme Court's decision today reaffirms the principle that, when it comes to preparing food for their students, a school's foodservice operation should be held to the same high standard as any other restaurant licensed to operate in this State."

"School-aged children are more vulnerable than most when it comes to exposure to contaminated food. Those who argue for lower-standards plainly do not understand what the problem is, or what is truly at stake. If anything, schools should be held to the highest standards. These are our children we are talking about."

In its investigation of the outbreak, the Washington State Department of Health found that the Finley School under-cooked the taco meat. The Department further found the "differences in the preparation, handling, and transport of meat may have allowed for uneven cooking, uneven cooling, and uneven re-heating at the elementary school. This outbreak and the resulting investigation highlight the importance of regular inspections of institutional kitchens and the need for training of food service workers."

In declining to accept review of the Court of Appeals decision, the Supreme Court foreclosed any further legal options for the school district and its insurers. Stearns said:

"While this day has been long in coming, it is a day that our clients are grateful for. They will get the compensation that the jury found them so deserving of, and can now get on with their lives."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Two dozen families plan to file a lawsuit today against Lane County and the Lane County Fair Board, seeking damages for illnesses caused by the biggest outbreak of E. coli bacteria in state history at last year's county fair. All these folks became ill with a very deadly pathogen through no fault of their own. The fair board and the county could have done more to prevent these people from getting sick in the first place.

The families -- all but two from Lane County -- face a major hurdle even if they win a verdict from a local jury. Oregon law caps the liability of government agencies. Under the law, the most any single family could recover from the Fair Board and the county is $200,000. I will challenge the cap, and I put the county on notice last January that I planned to bring the action.

The suit lists 13 E. coli outbreaks at fairs, petting zoos and farms across the country since 1994, including three at county fairs in the Midwest in summer 2001. County fair officials were negligent if they knew about the earlier outbreaks and didn't take more aggressive steps to protect the public. If fair officials didn't know of the earlier outbreaks, they should have known.

The bottom line is the fair board created a place where people were bound to get ill regardless of what they did. Kids who never got out of their strollers, who never touched a cow, never touched a railing -- all they did was get wheeled through a shed, and they got sick.

Warren Wong, the fair's managing director, said the fair followed appropriate sanitary practices. "I believe what we did and have done are traditional and customary practices that represent the state of the industry," he said.

The fair plans to spend up to $25,000 to reduce the risk of E. coli infection at this year's exhibition by installing hand-washing stations outside animal barns, putting up signs and distributing brochures warning people of the risk.

The county should require that every animal be tested for E. coli. Some animals may slip through such a test, but it would go a long way to reduce risk.

E. coli is most commonly spread through contaminated ground beef and water. But public health investigators traced the fair outbreak to the sheep and goat exposition hall on the south side of the fairgrounds. Investigators never determined exactly how people got infected, but said the bacteria could have spread through straw contaminated with animal feces. Bacteria also were found in the building's rafters, indicating that it became airborne and could have fallen on food, floors, railings or people's skin.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Marler Clark filed a lawsuit today against the Lane County Fair Board on behalf of 29 individuals and families of individuals who were infected with E. coli O157:H7 during an outbreak at the Lane County Fair last summer.

A number of fairs and petting zoos have been implicated in E. coli outbreaks in recent years. The Lane County Fair Board should have been aware of risks to patrons, and taken the necessary precautions to prevent this outbreak. These kids were severely injured, and many may suffer from complications of their E. coli infections later in life. Someone needs to be held responsible for what they went through.

I recommended taking the following steps to prevent outbreaks at future fairs:

Admit only animals that have passed E. coli O157:H7 screening.

Limit airborne E. coli by not moving soiled bedding during exhibit hours, keeping stall areas damp with an approved disinfectant, and preventing visitors from entering stall areas.

Increase signing that makes clear the need to wash hands when entering and leaving exhibits and to not eat in the exhibit areas.

Increase education of the public on the risk of animal contact.

Increase ventilation of buildings to improve air flow per approved standards.

Sanitize walkways and railings.

Ban food from exhibit halls and areas surrounding exhibit halls.

Increase the number of hand washing stations and encourage the public to use them.

And, add warnings at fair entrances.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Two dozen people sickened by the biggest E. coli outbreak in state history filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Lane County Fair Board, claiming the board didn't do enough to protect fairgoers given similar outbreaks in other states.

Eighty-two people became sick at the fair -- nearly two-thirds of them younger than age 6. Twelve children were treated at Portland hospitals for hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a potentially fatal complication of E. coli infection that causes kidney failure.

Tim Outman and Kimberly Kessel took their boys, Makyah and Kyler, to the fair on Aug. 17. The parents pushed the boys through the animal barns in a double stroller. At one point, Makyah got out to inspect a mother pig nursing her piglets and put his hands on the railing of the pen, Kessel said. She wiped off his hands afterward. Kyler, now 2, never got sick. But within days, Makyah, now 4, became violently ill with cramps, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, vomiting and fever.

They took Makyah to Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland for three days to treat his HUS. The boy avoided dialysis and blood transfusions and today seems to be doing fine, with no sign of permanent damage, Outman said. Outman and Kessel are both artists. They live in Eugene and have a studio in McKenzie Bridge. They don't have health insurance and incurred about $15,000 in medical expenses during their son's illness.

Outman called the fair board after the outbreak and asked it to cover their medical bills. He said he was told to send a copy of the bills to the fair board for coverage. But when he called back after sending in the bills, he was told the county wouldn't cover their expenses. That's why they decided to join the suit.

"The fair board didn't seem to use a reasonable amount of care to prevent this," Outman said. "If someone comes on our property and gets injured, the standard we're held to is warn people or make it safe, and the fairgrounds did neither of those."

While Outman and Kessel hope their son won't have long-term health problems, many children who get HUS develop serious complications later in life and require lifelong medical care.

Carson Walter, the 2-year-old daughter of William and Shelly Walter of Eugene, spent 31 days at Doernbecher and underwent 17 rounds of dialysis, a process that filtered toxins and excess water from her blood.

Today, Carson "seems to be fairly stable," though she's still taking blood pressure medicine, her mother said. The long-term damage to her kidneys won't be known until she's 10 or 12.

Madeleine Closson, 3, is doing well 10 months after she spent 15 days and underwent three surgeries at Doernbecher after she developed HUS, said her father, Kevin Closson of Portland. "That's a hell of a lot to put a kid through," he said. But she often wakes up in the middle of the night, gets headaches and routinely suffers painful stomachaches, he said, though he's not sure whether those are complications of her E. coli-induced illness.

Lane County Commissioner Bill Dwyer said he doesn't think the county or the fair board can be held liable for the outbreak.

"Whenever you're around animals, there's a risk you have to take," he said. "The question is, was it reasonable what the county had done? I'd say it was probably the cleanest fair we ever had. You take some risks when you allow your children to peruse among animals," Dwyer said.

Even with the cap on damages, the Lane County Fair pays about $61,000 a year for a $5 million general liability insurance policy to guard against federal lawsuits, out-of-state claims or contractual liability claims.

I will challenge the constitutionality of the state's "tort caps," as they're known. If I win, I'll ask the jury to award damages that would compensate at least some victims for a lifetime of medical care -- sums that would likely run into millions of dollars and exceed the state cap.

The trial judge would then decide whether the cap applied. Whichever side lost that argument would appeal to the state Court of Appeals and ultimately to the state Supreme Court -- a process that could take years.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The family of one of the teens that contracted E. coli poisoning at a Washington camp last summer has sued Spokane Produce Inc. County health officials implicated the firm's romaine lettuce as the possible source of infection. But Spokane Produce says the lawsuit hinges on a flawed investigation by local health officials and that the scientific evidence falls short of implicating the company's product.

Last July, health officials investigated an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak at a summer dance camp after some 50 campers complained of nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Investigators with the Spokane Regional Health District conducted several inspections of the camp, tested water samples, interviewed food service staff, and polled campers on diet choices in search of the cause of the outbreak. By July 31, 33 cases of E. coli O157:H7 were confirmed by culture in Spokane County. The food surveys showed a strong association between a salad offered at the camp and a culture-confirmed gastroenteritis, said a report issued by the Spokane Regional Health District.

At the same time, reports of E. coli infection sprung up in other locations; some samples matched the campers' stool samples, while others didn't. Those patients whose infection matched the campers remembered eating a salad containing romaine lettuce at Walla Walla and Spokane restaurants, both of which were later traced to Spokane Produce, said the local health department's report.

With data from the dance camp and the Walla Walla case, FDA moved quickly to implicate Spokane Produce's romaine lettuce as the culprit and issued a nationwide alert advising the public to throw out the company's bagged, prewashed, precut romaine lettuce. Sources say documents unearthed in preparation for the legal battle show Washington health officials were concerned that FDA moved too fast to issue the product withdrawal announcement.

Company says the investigation was mishandled.

FDA investigated the Spokane Produce plant, took hundreds of samples and found no evidence of E. coli O157:H7 at the company facility, nor has any E. coli O157 been found on any of the company's lettuce, said Gregory Arpin, an attorney who represents Spokane Produce.

The company says the investigation was mishandled, because health investigators sent out an incomplete survey to campers and employees who were asked whether they ate a Caesar salad with romaine lettuce at a July 11 dinner. Investigators failed to mention in the first survey that a tossed salad, with lettuce supplied from another company, was also offered that night. To clarify the survey, investigators sent another survey out on July 31-Aug. 1, just after FDA had sent out its July 29 nationwide warning about romaine lettuce. The risk ratio of people who got sick after eating the Caesar salad dropped when results of the second survey were analyzed, Arpin said.

Concerning the Walla Walla incident, documents show lettuce from Spokane Produce was either already consumed or thrown out by the time that person could have been served the salad, the company will argue. The surveys, which are critical in outbreak investigations, could raise questions about the scientific evidence supporting the government's charge that only romaine lettuce could have caused all the illnesses. The produce firm also suggests that other leads, such as whether the water supplied in the camp or whether at least one camper who showed up already sick at the Washington camp, weren't followed up on.

I say not enough was done.

Spokane Produce washed and cleaned the lettuce, but it was not enough. Kids still got sick. My client, Angela Hadley, developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening condition, and may have long-term kidney problems as a result of exposure to E. coli O157:H7. The likelihood that another source caused the outbreak is slim, since health investigators found other people whose illness matched the campers' fingerprint and who ate the lettuce.

The lawsuit is based largely on the county health department's report on the outbreak and the government's conclusion that the produce company should be held responsible for her illness. Even if FDA moved too quickly to issue the warning, it doesn't mean they got it wrong. An investigation of the Eastern Washington University Dining Service, which administered the meals at the camp, didn't identify any food handling practices that might have been a probable source of contamination of the salad.

The lesson for the industry is that produce companies need to learn as much as they can about their suppliers, make clear in contracts where the responsibility lies in the event of a mishap, and have sophisticated traceback systems in place. Some of the California farms that supplied the company's romaine lettuce followed better sanitation procedures than other suppliers.

For now, both sides of the case are waiting on a missing piece in the puzzle: the state health department's report on the outbreak. That report, which has been delayed due to internal personnel changes and competing public health priorities, is close to being completed and may be available in the next few weeks. It will include an analysis of the epidemiological evidence gathered in the case. FDA is not expected to issue a similar report.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link