Stacy Finz and Marisa Lagos of the San Francisco Chronicle are following the quest to locate the source of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 191 people and killed one woman escalated Wednesday into a criminal investigation as federal agents raided the offices of two northern California produce processors for evidence that someone may
FBI executes search warrants on California spinach companies
As Ken McLaughlin and Brandon Bailey of the San Jose Mercury News have reported, agents for the FBI and FDA on Wednesday executed two search warrants on two Salinas area companies, saying they were looking for evidence of a crime.
From the article:
The two companies were Growers Express of Salinas, Calif., and Natural
More on the FBI Spinach Probe
The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that agents of the FBI and FDA Office of Criminal Investigations executed two search warrants today on Growers Express in Salinas, CA, and Natural Selection Foods in San Juan Batista, CA, in connection with the September 2006 outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 that the FDA has
Search warrants executed in spinach probe
As San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writers Stacy Finz and Marisa Lagos report, the investigation into the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak that has sickened nearly 200 people moved into the criminal realm for the first time today, as federal search warrants were executed at two Salinas Valley produce companies.
Investigators for the FBI
Lawmaker can’t find spinach in stores
The story Lawmaker can’t find spinach in stores is from the same politician who believes "Wild Pigs" caused this outbreak. If Congressman Farr really wanted to find spinach, he could have just left his office and driven to the Salinas and San Juan Valleys (see map below), but likely there were no cameras there to
E. coli found in cattle feces in spinach probe
Reuters published an article this morning titled E. coli found in cattle feces in spinach probe. This headline should not surprise anyone who has actually visited the Salinas Valley. I spent all day today driving around Salinas and other Valley’s and Counties implicated in this outbreak. Anyone with a shred of common sense would
Salinas Valley Road Trip
I am touring the Salinas Valley for the next few days with several experts to get an idea about how this little valley could have been the source of so many outbreaks of E. coli.
Talking with William Marler, Seattle attorney
The WSJ last week, the PSBJ this week – the business press seems more interested in this spinach outbreak than main-stream media. The below is from the Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle), written by Clay Holtzman:
For 13 years, Seattle attorney William Marler has made a name for himself as the E. coli lawyer. Food service companies, vendors and manufacturers fear him like bacteria fear penicillin. "I hope so," he said, "We’re really good at what we do."
The six-lawyer practice of Marler and Clark LLP specializes in suing producers and manufacturers accused of selling tainted food products. Its clients have received combined settlements and verdicts of more than $250 million. That includes the famous 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli case in Washington state.
Today Marler is tracking the nationwide outbreak of E. coli illnesses tied to bagged spinach. The outbreak has been linked to 183 illnesses in 26 states, according to The Wall Street Journal, including at least one death. Marler is representing 81 of those, including, he says, two deaths that have yet to be announced.
The Bremerton native, who graduated from Washington State University and earned his law degree from Seattle University, talked with the Puget Sound Business Journal at his office.
On how he got started specializing in food-borne illness litigation: It started in 1993 when the Jack in the Box case hit here in Seattle. It was a war zone and I wound up representing a lot of sick kids in that case. After the Jack in the Box case happened I really thought I would just become a trial lawyer again doing what I do. Then the Odwalla case happened which also was sort of focused here. Once that case ended I made a business decision to sort of focus on this type of litigation. I hired Bruce Clark from Karr Tuttle Campbell and Denis Stearns and we started Marler Clark (in 1998). Since then, our focus has been exclusively food-borne illness litigation.Continue Reading Talking with William Marler, Seattle attorney
Seattle Attorney Dominates Food-Borne Illness Litigation
The below is an interview I gave last Thursday with KUOW reporter Austin Jenkins:
If your kid gets E. coli poisoning – who are you going to call? These days people from across the country dial up Seattle attorney Bill Marler – sometimes before they talk to the health department. He’s made his name – and his fortune – suing the food industry to the tune of a quarter-billion dollars. Now as Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports, he’s going to bat for victims of the recent spinach E. coli outbreak.
Bill Marler’s office is on the 66th floor of the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle. It has a spectacular view of Elliot Bay and the Olympic Mountains. But what caught my eye were the framed million dollar plus insurance company checks hanging on the walls.
Marler: "These are checks for Brianne Kiner and her 15.6 million dollar settlement with Jack-in-the-Box.
Remember the Jack-in-the-box E-coli outbreak in 1993? In that case, Bill Marler broke the Washington State record for largest personal injury settlement. It sealed his national reputation as the lawyer who takes on food companies when people get sick. He also handled the Odwalla juice e-coli case in 1996.
Marler: "It’s my life. It’s 13 years of representing primarily little kids who get poisoned by big corporations."Continue Reading Seattle Attorney Dominates Food-Borne Illness Litigation
September – National Food Safety Month?
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September was National Food Safety Month. Aren’t you glad it is over?
Remember, despite the downward trends in food poisonings, 76 million people experience a food-borne disease in the United States each year. In fact, according to the Partnership for Food Safety Education and the United States Department of Agriculture and the Centers for