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

As much as any other victim of the 2006 Dole Spinach Outbreak, Suzanne Bandy’s case is about the staggering contrast between past and present.  When asked for her thoughts, Suzanne wrote of her first 57 years: “very simply, my life embodied the American Dream.”  Suzanne’s former life is, however, gone for good.  Now, she states, “I pray to God every day that I may wake up from this horrible nightmare and return to the life that I loved.”

Sadly, Suzanne’s prayers will never be answered.   The E. coli O157:H7 infection, along with the resulting hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), that she suffered in September 2006 devastated her kidneys.  Consequently, her current renal function—measured roughly a year after her acute illness—is nearing a level where either a kidney transplant or lifelong dialysis will be necessary for survival.  It is forecast that Suzanne will reach end stage renal disease in as little as five years.

Mr. President, this could have happened to you too.  E. coli O157:H7, as you will see from this video, is a very nasty bug.

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The first Georgia lawsuit stemming from National E. coli outbreak linked to six states was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Valdosta Division against Nebraska Beef Limited.  The complaint was filed on behalf of Evelyn and John M. Stewart of Moultrie, Georgia.

The lawsuit states that on June 20, 2008 the Stewarts ate at the Barbeque Pit in Moultrie, Georgia.  Days later, Mrs. Stewart began having bloody diarrhea and signs of renal failure.  She was admitted to the Colquitt Regional Medical Center, where she tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 and was diagnosed with HUS, or Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a severe and life-threatening complication.  On June 26, she was transferred to the Archbold Memorial Hospital Medical Intensive Care Unit in Thomasville, GA, where she continues to battle the complications of the infection.

A cluster of E. coli illnesses appeared in Colquitt County in late June, and were traced to the Barbeque Pit, located at 311 First Ave. S.E., in Moultrie, Georgia.  The restaurant closed voluntarily on July 3, and has been involved in rigorous testing and disinfection procedures.  Eight cases of E. coli have been lab-confirmed, and four are pending results.  Four of the victims have developed HUS.  The Georgia cases have been genetically matched to the outbreak in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, New York, Utah, and Indiana.  The multi-state outbreak has been traced to tainted meat from Nebraska Beef Ltd. of Omaha, NE, which was a supplier to the Barbeque Pit in Moultrie.  At least 60 have fallen ill in seven states.  

“Where is the legislation to prevent these illnesses?” asks William Marler, the Stewart’s attorney.  “These people should not be in ICU, fighting for their lives, just because they went out to dinner.  We have the ability to legislate, regulate, and eliminate E. coli from our food supply, and we need to see Congressional action.”

“After changes in meat regulation dropped recall amounts from 23 million pounds in 2002 to only 181,900 pounds in 2006, 39 million pounds of E. coli tainted meat has been recalled since the spring of 2007.  The numbers have just shot up in the last year,” says Marler, “and so have illnesses.  If this was a serial killer—which, actually, it is—every resource in this country would have been mobilized against it.  Nothing less is acceptable.”

WALB TV reported – “A South Georgia family filed a lawsuit Monday over that E. coli outbreak in Moultrie.” As I said:

"The bottom line for us is Nebraska Beef has the opportunity and the obligation to make sure that this nasty bug is not on the meat that they sell to the public," said Attorney Bill Marler Esq., Marler Clark LLP PS of Seattle, Washington.

Marler is no stranger to food-borne illness, he filed the class action lawsuit against ConAgra Foods after that Sylvester Peanut Butter Salmonella outbreak last year. Marler told WALB News 10 that this isn't his first suit against Nebraska Beef.

"We sued Nebraska Beef based on a 2006 church supper up in upstate Minnesota, that killed a woman and put another in the hospital for months we sued on both those ladies behalves and interestingly Nebraska beef has cross claimed against the church," said Marler.

That case is still unresolved. Marler urges tougher legislation to prevent these illnesses, keeping people out of ICU. In Stewart's case, she continues to fight for her life, having undergone dialysis and plasma replacements and a seizure that stopped her breathing.

That's why they're asking Nebraska Beef to step up and help pay medical expenses that are expected to cost the family three quarters of a million dollars.

As the Moultrie Observer reported - First E. coli suit filed - Moultrian Evelyn Stewart represented by Seattle law firm

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Lightning strikes again and again.  I was able to find that on two occasions in 1996 and 2000, Rochester Meats recalled 152,000 and 30,000 pounds of E. coli-contaminated ground beef. Details from the FSIS website are here - note the amount of the recall and the amount actually recovered:

Case Number: 017-96 Recall Notification Report: N
Date Opened: 08/05/1996 Date Closed: 12/02/1996
Recall Class: 1 Press Release (Y/N): N
Domestic Est. Number: 08999 M Name: ROCHESTER MEATS
Imported Product (Y/N): N Foreign Estab. Number: N/A
City: ROCHESTER State: MN Country: USA
Product: GROUND BEEF PATTIES, FROZEN
Problem: BACTERIA Description: E. COLI O157:H7
Total Pounds Recalled: 152,000 Pounds Recovered: 5,862

Case Number: 061-2000 Recall Notification Report: RNR061-2000
Date Opened: 09/06/2000 Date Closed: 02/27/2001
Recall Class: 1 Press Release (Y/N): Y
Domestic Est. Number: 08999 M Name: Rochester Meats Co
Imported Product (Y/N): Foreign Estab. Number: N/A
City: Rochester State: MN Country: USA
Product: Ground Beef Patties
Problem: BACTERIA Description: E. COLI O157:H7
Total Pounds Recalled: 30,000 Pounds Recovered: 10,064

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FSIS announced tonight the first E. coli O157:H7 recall of 2008.  In 2007 there were at least 21 recalls, totaling over 33,00,000 pounds of meat.  Now Rochester Meat Company, a Rochester, Minnesota firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 188,000 pounds of ground beef products because the meat resulted in five illnesses in Wisconsin and one illness in California due to contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.  We believe that a National Restaurant Chain may be involved.

The ground beef products subject to recall were produced on Oct. 30, 2007, and Nov. 6, 2007. The products subject to recall were shipped to distributors nationwide for further distribution to restaurants and food service institutions. These products were not available for purchase by consumers in retail establishments.

Each box bears the establishment number “Est. 8999” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The following products are subject to recall:

* 10-pound boxes of “SEASONED BEEF BULK” bearing a product number of “09068,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “730314.”

* 10-pound boxes of “100% PURE BEEF PATTIES” bearing a product number of “09071,” as well as an eight-digit a lot number beginning with “731013.”

* 15-pound boxes of “CHEYENNE SEASONED BEEF PATTIES” bearing a product number of “12017” or “12018,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “730314.”

* 10-, 15- and 20-pound boxes of “100% PURE GROUND BEEF PATTIES” bearing a product number of “1340,” “127533,” “135724,” “158843” or “158852,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “731013” or “731014.”
* 10-pound boxes of “100% PURE GROUND CHUCK BEEF PATTIES” bearing a product number of “158898,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “731014.”

* 10-, 15- and 25-pound boxes of “100% PURE GROUND BEEF CHUCK PATTIES” bearing a product number of “85227,” “227806,” “407823,” “407830,” “407840,” “417841” or “437531,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “730314,” “731013,” or “731014.”

* 10-pound boxes of “OUR HOMESTYLE 100% PURE GROUND BEEF PATTIES” bearing a product number of “208033,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “731014.”

* 15-pound boxes of “SEASONED BEEF PATTIES” bearing a product number of “357835,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “730314.”

* 15- and 15.3-pound boxes of “USDA CHOICE OR HIGHER 100% PURE GROUND BEEF PATTIES” bearing a product number of “437507” or “437521,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “730314,” “731013,” or “731014.”

* 15-pound boxes of “USDA CHOICE OR HIGHER GROUND BEEF CHUCK PATTIES” bearing a product number of “437822,” as well as an eight-digit lot number beginning with “731014.”

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It has been a busy week juggling poisoned spinach, peanut butter, pot pies and a rash of contaminated hamburger and milk – and dealing with emails from raw milk advocates, but I am still surprised that no one from Texas every took me up on my $10,000 offer for the return of the missing meat.

Rececca Lopez of WFAA TV in Dallas continues to cover the whereabouts of the American Fresh Foods “mystery meat.” According the Ms. Lopez, “Dallas officers have traveled door-to-door to dozens of restaurants in the area searching for the meat. During their search, officers discovered that the Chicken Shack did buy some of the meat. The Chicken Shack owner said they bought only one box of the meat for $20.”

Nearly a month ago approximately 14,800 pounds of ground beef products stolen, along with the unlocked truck, from the parking lot of American Fresh Foods. According to Land Line Magazine reporter, Clarissa Kell-Holland, “as of Friday, January 11, more than 80 percent of the meat still hadn’t been recovered. Health investigators working on the case confirmed to Land Line that some Dallas residents and area restaurants have been approached by an individual attempting to sell the stolen ground beef products door-to-door.”

As I posted last week, there are still many unanswered questions for American Fresh Foods that "poop" into mind, such as:

1. What were you doing with E. coli-tainted hamburger sitting in your parking lot?

2. What were you going to do with it? Was it going to be destroyed? Were you going to sell it as cooked product?

3. Given that E. coli-tainted hamburger is a danger, how was someone able to back a big rig up to the trailer and drive it off your property?

4. Because you knew the hamburger was adulterated by testing, I can assume that you have done genetic fingerprinting (PFGE) on the offending bug? This will be helpful if people start showing up in ER's with bloody stool. If their stool is tested, and found to have E. coli, and if a PFGE is done, perhaps you can figure out who stole the truck by figuring out who sold the poisoned meat?

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I love a lawsuit......  The AP reported yesterday, “Dairies sue to stop enforcement of raw milk standard."  This one will be fun to watch.  The raw milk folks (who sell their product for $10.00 per gallon - pasteurized milk sells for about $4.00) better watch what they are stepping into.  You really have to wonder if charging $6.00 more a gallon has anything to with the lawsuit?  Or, is it really true that these multi-million dollar companies really care about raw milk for some other reason?  See YouTube interview of Organic Pastures owner.

For those of us that believe in the civil justice system, I expect "Raw Milk on Trial" to uncover the truth.  As the AP reported:

Claravale Farm, of Paicines, and Organic Pastures of Fresno that produce unpasteurized milk are suing to stop the state from enforcing strict new standards. The dairies hope to stop a law that would require raw milk to meet the same bacterial standards as pasteurized milk starting January 1. They say it's not technically possible to meet those standards and keep milk raw. Agriculture department officials haven't seen the suit. But they say raw milk producers in other states with similar standards have been able to comply.

We are also investigating a Fall 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has implicated one of the plaintiffs in the recent lawsuit, Organic Pastures.  

Many of these families whose kids were sickened in these outbreaks thought they were doing something healthful (one of the children unknowingly drank raw milk at a friend's house), but the products (colostrum or raw milk) were reported  to contain a fecal pathogen (E. coli O157:H7) that nearly took the kids’ lives.

I actually spoke on the topic of “Issues Regarding Raw Milk Sales and Consumption” at the IAFP conference in 2006, and recently one of my law partners wrote “A Legal History of Raw Milk in the United States” published in The Journal of Environmental Health.  One thing milk producers (raw or pasteurized) need to remember, what they produce is a product, and if that product contains a deadly pathogen and it sickens or kills someone, you have no defenses and you will get sued.

Cheryl Clark of the San Diego Union-Tribune interviewed the owner of Organic Pastures, the largest supplier of organic raw milk in California, with $6 million in annual sales, for her story “E. coli suspected from Fresno dairy” on September 23, 2006:

Mark McAfee, owner of Organic Pastures, insisted during a phone interview yesterday that he does not believe his dairy farm produced contaminated products. “They don't know what it is,” he said, referring to the state officials. He added that he was told some of the children also ate poorly cooked hamburger or spinach and could have ingested the bacteria that way. “The state has told us this is a precautionary recall,” McAfee said. “They have to shoot first and ask questions later, and you can't blame the guys. And although we test our milk like nobody tests it for every pathogen, (the raw milk products industry has) a long history of people becoming sick.”

 Organic Pastures was glowingly profiled in 2003 in www.newfarm.org

The milk is a perfect metaphor: by keeping it raw, Mark encourages the beneficial bacteria that keep pathogens in check. Each batch of milk is tested for bad guys like salmonella and E. coli, and not once have they been found. He has even had researchers introduce such bacteria to test samples, and the pathogens have been unable to reproduce. In conventional milk they would be the dominant organisms and proliferate, but in the varied ecosystem within Mark’s milk, the competition stifles them.

I guess the metaphor is not always apt.  As part of our research into the sale and consumption of raw milk, I hope to do several posts in the next few months – stay tuned.  The folks at Barfblog have already done quite a bit of research already.  Originally, the last photo was of a nice picture of Organic Pastures milk.  However, the photo caught the ire of my friends at www.ethicurean.com.  I did find another photo.

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I am sure that American Fresh Foods in Fort Worth, Texas was thinking about doing this, but I thought I would make the offer.  If American Fresh Foods wants to double the reward, that would be great.


As you recall, last night American Fresh Foods and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a public health alert for approximately 14,800 pounds of ground beef products (that is 59,200 quarter pounders) that might be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.  The public health alert was initiated after a trailer (like the one in this picture) containing the products was reported stolen by the company.  According to American Fresh Foods' officials, the stolen meat had been placed in a refrigerated truck and held on the plant's property.  The product, a portion of which had been segregated as possibly affected with E. coli O157:H7, was being removed from "fresh commercial sale."  Frankly, why the contaminated hamburger was not destroyed is an issue.  What was it being stored for?  And, how does someone steal a trailer and a truck and no one notices?  Where the hell did they take it?


Regardless of why American Fresh Foods was storing E. coli-tainted meat in a trailer, the product needs to be returned, so it is not consumed.  Remember, E. coli O157:H7 is an adulterant in hamburger.  10 to 50 bacteria will kill a child - 250,000 bacteria will fit on the head of a pin.  You cannot see it, taste it or smell it.  Since the FSIS reported this last night, 24 hours have passed.  At the speed limit, the truck could have traveled 1,300 miles.  That is 700 miles less than showing up in the parking lot of my law office here in Seattle.  If you have the truck, or know someone who does, and it leads to his or her arrest, please call 911 and then me at 1-206-794-5043.

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