ABC Action News has also reported on Marler Clark’s lawsuit filed on behalf of Diana Walters, who was infected with E. coli at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City earlier this year. From ABC’s article:
Diana Walters is now home from the hospital, but she told Action News reporter Don Germaise that she’s afraid she’ll never be the same.
“At one point, I knew for sure I was going to die,” she explained.
Diana’s speech is still slurred from her near-death experience six weeks ago. She spent 16 days in the hospital, including nine in intensive care after contracting the infection.
The state has linked the outbreak of E. coli infections to a petting zoo that visited at least three fairs, including the Florida State Fair and the Strawberry Festival.
“You had to watch where you walked because there was manure laying — I mean piles of manure — laying in the walkways,” she recalled.
Diana went to the Strawberry Festival with her young cousin, and she believes that’s where she got sick enough to die.
“I could see my grandparents and my daddy saying, ‘Come on, it’s OK, it’s OK. Follow the light over here,’ – she continued.
The state believes more than two dozen people got sick from the petting zoo, but Diana is the first bay area resident to file suit, naming both the Strawberry Festival and the AgVenture petting zoo as defendants.
“I don’t know who to blame. I think I would have to blame the petting zoo,” Diana said.
But Diana’s attorney told Action News that one reason the Strawberry Festival is also named in the suit is because the petting zoo may not have enough money to pay out.