Karen Robinson-Jacobs reports in the morning that the adult children of an 89-year-old Dallas County woman who died after eating cantaloupe allegedly tainted with Listeria, filed suit late last week against the grower and distributor in State District court in Dallas.

Russell Jones and Terri Blackmon, the children of Marie Jones, filed suit in connection with a Listeria outbreak that surfaced in September and so far has sickened at least 133 and been associated with 28 deaths. Texas was one of the hardest hit states with 18 reported illnesses.

Jones and Blackmon, also Dallas County residents, say that producer Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo., and Frontera Produce Ltd. of Edinburg, Texas, which allegedly shipped the tainted cantaloupe, committed negligence and breached an implied warranty….

Eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes can cause Listeriosis, a serious illness that can lead to nausea and diarrhea. In immune-deficient individuals, Listeria can invade the central nervous system, causing meningitis and/or a brain infection.

“It’s a very painful way of dying,” said attorney Bill Marler who has filed eight lawsuits related to the outbreak, including the Jones suit. “We’re all going to die, but you shouldn’t die from eating cantaloupe.”

Marler said this outbreak has the potential to become the most deadly U.S. foodborne illness outbreak on record.

Read the whole story in the Dallas paper in the morning.