On May 05, John O’Brien of the Charleston Bureau did an article on Marler Clark’s involvement in the Sheetz litigation. In his article, “Seattle Firm Leading Sheetz Litigation,” O’Brien writes:

William Marler has been living in disease for 13 years.
“It’s an odd niche,” said Marler, who helped form the Seattle law firm Marler Clark after the Jack in the Box case in 1993. “I’ve been involved in a lot of salmonella outbreaks.
“I had one person in this Sheetz outbreak that suffered acute kidney failure. Luckily his kidney function bounced back.
“Salmonella is a nasty bug.”
Marler says he plans to file 148 cases against Sheetz and Coronet Foods concerning allegedly Salmonella-infested tomatoes sold in 2004. Most are in Pennsylvania, but he says there are handfuls in West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia in Maryland.
A group of four Sheetz customers have already filed a lawsuit in Tucker Circuit Court and are set for trial in December. They are seeking a total of $70,000.
Two weeks ago, two cases were filed in Ohio Circuit Court against Sheetz and Coronet, Sheetz’ tomato supplier.
And because the cases are so spread out and Marler is so far away, he has decided to file all his cases in Allegheny County in Pennsylvania.
“It’s the easiest place for everybody to get to, for lawyers and even the clients,” Marler said.
Marler is used to these types of procedure when it comes to food-born illness litigation because he’s had plenty of experience. He even started Outbreak Inc., a consulting firm for businesses that helps its clients avoid outbreaks like the one Sheetz is dealing with right now.
“By mid-May we hope to be finishing up a series of depositions,” Marler said. “We’re doing that with the hope that we can convince Sheetz and Coronet that they’re not going to be able to point a finger anywhere except themselves.
“We’ve got these poor people who get poisoned just going to a Sheetz. I represent a range of people who were sick for a week to hospitalized for 10-15 days.
“It’s not just a tummy-ache and some diarrhea.”