Personal Injury Law

E. coli Lawsuit Filed Against Taco Bell and Hepatitis A Lawsuit Filed Against Chipotle

By Bill Marler, Esq.

A week without a blog post?  That has not happened for a long time.  Being "off the grid" in Alaska for a few days did not help (me in the Obama hat with a very fresh steelhead), and spending the balance of the time in airports and airplanes getting to and from Omaha and Minneapolis absorbed the balance of the time.  I did however squeeze in a few more lawsuits:

Victim of Taco Bell E. coli Outbreak Sues Yum Brands

An E. coli lawsuit was filed today against Yum Brands—the parent company of Taco Bell—in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Debra Moyer, a resident of Boyertown, PA, who became gravely ill with an E. coli infection after eating contaminated food from a Taco Bell in Gilbertsville.  ??Ms. Moyer is a victim of an outbreak of the highly toxic E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in four Northeastern states in November, 2006, associated with contaminated lettuce served at various Taco Bell restaurants. More than 70 people who ate at Taco Bell restaurants in Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were infected, and eight developed the life-threatening complication Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), including Ms. Moyer. Ms. Moyer was hospitalized for 31 days, her kidneys failed, she experienced seizures and was in a coma for weeks, and she has sustained permanent renal injury.  Ms. Moyer’s case, however, has not yet been resolved, despite the far greater relative severity of her illness and of her substantially greater loss. Taco Bell has yet to make an offer that would be adequate to pay for Ms. Moyer’s hospital bills and to compensate her for her past and present injuries. “Ms. Moyer barely survived her acute illness, and her life has been permanently and negatively affected,” said food borne illness attorney William Marler. “She is disabled, and both her body and her finances have been ravaged by this illness. It is imperative that corporations take responsibility when their products wreak this kind of personal destruction.”

Second Lawsuit Filed In Chipotle Grill Hepatitis A Outbreak

A second Hepatitis A lawsuit was filed today against Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., in San Diego County Superior Court. The complaint was filed on behalf of San Diego resident Rhonda Salgado, who was infected with Hepatitis A after eating food from the Chipotle Grill in La Mesa, California, between February and April 2008.  The lawsuit states Ms. Saldago developed symptoms of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection on April 10, 2008 and required medical attention on multiple occasions including April 19, April 24, and May 1, 2008. In the course of these visits, her blood tested positive for Hepatitis A. Ms. Salgado remains ill, and has not been able to return to work.  In late April 2008, San Diego County health officials announced that a number of HAV infections had been traced to the restaurant, located at 8005 Fletcher Parkway in La Mesa. Officials advised customers who had eaten at the restaurant between March 1 and April 22 that they might be at risk for infection.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on May 21, 2008 (boomark / email).