Personal Injury Law

2006 Nebraska Beef E. coli Case Resolved

By Bill Marler, Esq.

I’ve been waiting a long time to make this post – more than two years. Today we settled a lawsuit against Nebraska Beef Inc. on behalf of two Longville, Minnesota families, those of Ellie Wheeler and Carolyn Hawkinson. We have been litigating for a long, long, time, and today a settlement was reached (for an undisclosed sum).

The story is a grim one. The members of the Salem Lutheran Church purchased beef for a church dinner - beef sourced, as we alleged, from Nebraska Beef Inc., and contaminated with E. coli. More than a dozen fell ill, including Ellie Wheeler, from the resulting E. coli infections, and Carolyn Hawkinson lost her life. When the tainted meat was traced to Nebraska Beef and they were sued, Nebraska Beef responded by suing the Church for—in effect—not cooking the deadly toxin out of the meat.

Today the families can finally begin to put their lives back together – lives ripped apart by the loss and injury of loved ones and by the massive medical bills that come with serious illness. Unbelievably, there have been other outbreaks traced to Nebraska Beef since the Longville outbreak; more have experienced the loss of health and financial security.

All the victims and families would rather time could be rolled back and the lives – and livelihood – of their family members could be restored. Nothing would make me happier than a safe food supply where no-one is sickened by what they eat. In the mean time, compensation is the best we can give those families, while we work to prevent it happening again.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).