The CDC reports: Shigellosis is a nationally notifiable diarrheal illness caused by gram-negative bacteria. Shigella infection is spread through fecal-oral transmission and sexual contact. Although most infections are self-limited, antibiotics are indicated for severe illness or to reduce transmission in settings with high risk for spread. Since 2015, a growing proportion of cases has been caused by […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year 76 million – or one out of every four – Americans are sickened as a result of consuming contaminated foods or beverages. Some become seriously ill; 325,000 require hospitalization and 5,000 die. Older adults, young children, and those who have weakened immune systems […]
Kathleen Doheny of Healthy Traveler did an article today on our client Ernie Lyon of Florida who was sickened with Shigella from an airplane meal (a chicken potpie, a roll and a salad topped with cucumbers and carrots). From the article: Lyon, his wife, Debbie, and eight other travelers are suing Gate Gourmet, which prepared […]
In an article in Ontario Farmer, Jim Romahn wrote about my recent talk at University of Guelph about foodborne illness litigation: U.S. lawyer Bill Marler of Seattle, Wash. Was cited as telling an audience at the University of Guelph recently that medicare has spared Canadian food companies from multi-million-dollar lawsuits when their products poison consumers. […]
Marler Clark has filed a second lawsuit against Gate Gourmet, the airline caterer responsible for an August, 2004 Shigella outbreak among passengers on outbound flights departing from Honolulu Airport. The complaint, which was filed Wednesday in United States District Court for the District of Hawaii (Case number CV05-00401 ACK LEK), was filed on behalf of […]
The Associated Press did an interesting article on a Montana man named John Munsell who wants out of the meat processing business and is trying to sell the meat processing plant his father started decades ago. All of this comes after the ConAgra recall and the USDA’s claims that his plant’s food protection efforts are […]
Thursday, June 16, 2005 12:30 — 1:30 pm OVC Learning Centre Room 1715 University of Guelph I will discuss why processors, ingredient suppliers, restaurant operators, and any operations involved in the growth, processing, and distribution of food products should understand the legal consequences and dangers of what may happen when foodborne illness strikes as a […]
Report a Food Illness www.rusick2.msu.edu This project is being conducted by researchers and epidemiologists at the National Food Safety & Toxicology Center at Michigan State University. The Developmental Steering Committee had scientists from the Michigan Department of Community Health, Michigan Department of Agriculture, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Mid-Michigan District Health Department, Barry-Eaton District […]
By William D. Marler I always find it a bit odd these PR events that restaurants do after an outbreak that sickens hundreds and kills people – although this is the first time that I have seen a minister as the spokesperson. I have seen it dozens of times in prior outbreaks and I am […]
As the Associated Press reported today, undercooked turkey at a Camden restaurant is most likely the cause of one of the worst food-borne illness outbreaks in South Carolina in recent years, the state health department said Friday. More than 300 people were sickened and one 58-year-old man died after eating at the Old South Restaurant […]
Bankrupt Coronet Foods is now facing a lawsuit by 92 people from several states. On Wednesday a judge ruled the people who claim they got sick after eating tainted roma tomatoes could sue the store that sold them, and the company that supplied them, Wheeling based Coronet Foods. “It’s clear that the tomatoes were supplied […]
As the Associated Press reported today, a West Virginia federal bankruptcy judge has allowed us to sue on behalf of more than 80 people who were sickened by salmonella-tainted tomatoes the company supplied the tomatoes and the Sheetz convenience store chain. Federal Judge L. Edward Friend II signed an order yesterday allowing plaintiffs to sue […]
In an article yesterday by the Associated Press, I said I no longer plan to sue Sheetz, the convenience store chain who sickened over 400 people with salmonella-tainted tomatoes. But I’m still planning to sue Coronet Foods, the bankrupt company which supplied the tomatoes. A bankruptcy judge signed an order Wednesday allowing Coronet to be […]
I’m quoted by Beacon Journal medical writer Tracy Wheeler’s recent article Avoid Zoo Fever, which addresses the issue of fair safety precautions — like handwashing — to avoid getting E. coli at petting zoos and fairs. She also addresses the hidden risks, which handwashing won’t help. From the article: Sometimes, though, the risk is hidden. […]
Our client Ernie Lyon is the focus of an article in today’s Star Bulletin after we filed a lawsuit yesterday against Honolulu airline caterer Gate Gourmet yesterday: Ernie Lyon accused the company of serving food contaminated with the Shigella bacteria, causing him to develop a 104-degree fever and accrue $3,000 in medical bills. The suit […]
The Associated Press reports that the Food and Drug Administration says workers at one of four Mexican green onion farms inspected as the result of a 2003 hepatitis outbreak lived in windowless metal shacks with no showers. Shallow trenches ran from an area littered with soiled diapers and other human waste, downhill to onion fields […]