Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : Bill Marler : Marler Clark

Today's Daily Report, an Atlanta-area legal journal, reported on the ConAgra Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter litigation.  In the Daily Report, writer Robin McDonald mentioned Marler Clark's role in the litigation:

The other plaintiffs’ lawyer is Seattle attorney William D. Marler, who has built his reputation by successfully litigating on behalf of thousands of people sickened by E. coli, salmonella, Listeria and other food-borne illnesses.

Marler’s successes include suits on behalf of the families of E. coli-sickened children against the fast-food hamburger chain Jack in the Box in 1993 and against fruit juice producer Odwalla Inc. in 1996. In 1998, Marler represented several metro-Atlanta children sickened with E. coli they contracted through contaminated swimming pool water at Marietta’s White Water amusement park, among them the 4-year-old son of then Atlanta Braves shortstop Walt Weiss. Marler’s small clients included the most critically ill children who were hospitalized after their E. coli exposure.

Marler’s Web site states that the Seattle attorney eventually settled the White Water claims for “millions of dollars.”

Marler’s firm, Marler Clark, has also represented victims sickened by E. coli they contracted in 2002 from contaminated ground beef produced at a ConAgra meatpacking plant. ConAgra settled with those victims without litigation, according to a Marler Clark pleading on file in Atlanta.

Marler Clark is adopting a two-pronged offense in the ConAgra litigation. The firm is representing plaintiffs who were sickened by the contaminated peanut butter in a potential class action. But it also is filing individual suits on behalf of more seriously stricken clients who were hospitalized with salmonella poisoning.

You can read more about Marler Clark's involvement in ConAgra peanut butter litigation here.

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ConAgra announced that production of Peter Pan peanut butter will resume this month, now that the company's Sylvester, Georgia, plant has been renovated.  AP reported that ConAgra is working to determine when the product will be reintroduced, and is strategizing how to re-introduce the product without facing backlash from consumers who became ill after eating the product.  In the story we were reminded of the outbreak that sickened thousands:

The Omaha company recalled all its peanut butter in February after government investigators linked the bacteria outbreak to ConAgra's Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) has continued selling Great Value peanut butter, its store brand, made by different suppliers, but Peter Pan has yet to return to stores.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked the peanut butter to the illnesses of more than 625 people in 47 states.

ConAgra spokesman David Palfenier has indicated that the re-launch of Peter Pan will be the be the single-largest investment ever made in the product.

We continue to represent thousands of people who became ill with Salmonella after eating Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter.  See www.PeanutButterClassAction.com for more details.

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The CDC's publication, Moribidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released today includes a summary of the ConAgra peanut butter Salmonella outbreak investigation. The report states in part:

In February 2007, a case-control study with 65 patients and 124 controls was conducted to identify the food item associated with illness; the majority of interviews were completed by state and local health departments and were coordinated by CDC. For the study, a case was defined as infection with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Tennessee in a person aged >18 years with a history of diarrhea. Controls were well adults from the patient's community who were matched by geographic location. Controls were identified using a reverse online telephone directory that when given an address provided telephone numbers for residences in the same extended neighborhood as the patients. The median ages for the patients and controls were 53 and 58 years, respectively. Patients were more likely than controls to have eaten peanut butter (81% versus 65%, matched odds ratio [mOR] = 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.8--5.2), to have eaten peanut butter more than once a week (66% versus 40%, mOR = 3.5, CI = 1.4--9.9), and to have eaten either Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter (67% versus 13%, mOR = 10.9, CI = 3.8--43.0). Neither the consumption of other peanut butter brands nor consumption of turkey products was associated with illness.

Epidemiologic data suggesting Peter Pan brands of peanut butter as the possible source of the outbreak were provided to FDA officials on February 13, 2007. The following day, FDA issued a health alert to consumers indicating that they should not eat Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter with a product code beginning with 2111, both of which were manufactured in a single facility in Georgia operated by ConAgra Foods. ConAgra Foods voluntarily recalled the products, destroyed existing products in their possession, and temporarily halted production pending further investigation.

We are continuing our own investigation into nearly 5,000 claims of illness after eating the peanut butter. 

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