Personal Injury Law

Time For Punitive Damages for Cargill?

By Bill Marler, Esq.

In just a year and a half, the American meat industry has experienced a whiplash of beef recalls. 44 million pounds of meat tainted with E. coli O157:H7 has been publicly recalled, up by a staggering factor of over two hundred from the 2006 amount of only 181,900 pounds.  I am in Washington DC this week for the bi-annual meeting of the Democracy Alliance and for a meeting with FSIS on E. coli testing at the retail level.  On Monday I am off to Minneapolis to attempt to resolve several significant E. coli cases stemming from a number of Cargill-related E. coli recalls from the fall of 2007 that sickened dozens, leaving many with life-long complications.  Several months ago, I have pulled a few of our past E. coli battles with Cargill and its many subsidiaries:

* 1993 and 2000 Sizzler outbreak linked to Cargill/Excel

* 2001 Cargill/Excell Linked to Frozen Beef E. coli

* 2002 Cargill/Emmpak “fresh” ground meat linked to E. coli

A bit more history about Cargill and its E. coli-tainted products - In 1995 Cargill announced the “End of E. coli” in the pages of the New York Times. Now, 12 years later it has recalled nearly 2,000,000 pounds of hamburger (that is nearly enough to give every New Yorker a quarter pounder) in October and November recalls.  Given Cargill’s less that satisfactory track record, perhaps it is time to impose damages, not only to compensate the victims it has poisoned, but also to punish Cargill for continuing to manufacturer products that poison its customers?  Here is Minnesota’s Punitive Damages Statute:

549.191 CLAIM FOR PUNITIVE DAMAGES

Upon commencement of a civil action, the complaint must not seek punitive damages. After filing the suit a party may make a motion to amend the pleadings to claim punitive damages. The motion must allege the applicable legal basis under section 549.20 or other law for awarding punitive damages in the action and must be accompanied by one or more affidavits showing the factual basis for the claim....

549.20 PUNITIVE DAMAGES

Subdivision 1.Standard. (a) Punitive damages shall be allowed in civil actions only upon clear and convincing evidence that the acts of the defendant show deliberate disregard for the rights or safety of others.

Seems to me it is time to actually punish, as our current President would say, the "evil doers."

Full post as published by Marler Blog on November 13, 2008 (boomark / email).