Personal Injury Law

A Conversation with Bill Marler: Taking on E. coli, Big Ag, Raw Milk, Conspiracy Theorists, and the USDA."

By Bill Marler, Esq.

I had a great time chatting with Shari Danielson of the blog, Simple Good and Tasty, for what is going to be a two-part expose into the inner workings of the mind of trial lawyer/wannabe politician/food safety advocate/blogger – 'A Conversation with Bill Marler: Taking on E. coli, Big Ag, Raw Milk, Conspiracy Theorists, and the USDA.'

As part one shows, and as my wife and friends remind me too often, I am candid, at times, to a fault. Here are a few lines:

… He writes a daily blog about his work, and his entries are refreshingly un-lawyer-like. He is an entertainingly straightforward writer with a witty and wicked sense of humor….

… He can also be acerbic, confrontational, and sarcastic….

… I was not surprised to read that Marler is generally reviled by industrial food giants….

… At the same time, Marler is also hated by some sustainable, organic, local foodies for his lawsuits against family farms, most of which sold contaminated raw milk, and his support for federal food-safety legislation. To them, he is Goliath, towering menacingly over mom–and-pop farmers struggling to survive….

… Attorney Marler and I engaged in two extensively detailed phone conversations plus an e-mail exchange. The extent of his accessibility and openness surprised me; no one screened my calls; no one asked for my credentials. He was very direct, even blunt, as well as extremely articulate, wry, patient, and very, very likable. His favorite phrase seems to be 'the reality is,' and after talking to him, I understand why he uses it so often. He struck me as being acutely motivated to find out what is real, or as close to real as the cold, hard, scientific data will allow. He's a stickler for information and research. And when there are gaps in the data, he fills them with images of sickly children, mothers on kidney dialysis, and paraplegic ex-dance instructors….

Shari caught me at an unusual moment over the last few weeks/months/years – I was in my office – as opposed to being in some city somewhere either suing some corporation or talking food safety. Regarding food safety, specifically the balance between Big Ag and small farmers, as I have said too often: 'In 17 years handling foodborne illness cases, I have never sued a farmers market, and, for the most part the 'mom and pops' that I have sued have been raw milk dairies, that have poisoned and sickened their customers."  That is the reality.

What we need is a sustainable AND safe way of feeding an ever-expanding (numbers not waist line) population. I struggle with that idea a lot and write about it perhaps too often on my blog. However, it is more complex than Monsanto is evil and raw milk is good. We really need to figure out how to safely feed the world in a way that sustains our planet that also works in the reality of a global, capitalist economy.  The great thing is that there is a passionate discussion going on (only by bloggers?) about how our food is produced – what are the risks and benefits? I see my role (perhaps self-appointed) as challenging beliefs and making sure that the victims of the cost/benefit analysis are not forgotten.

I love the fact that she also caught me on my verbal tick 'the reality is.' All in all, she hit my nail right on my head. Tune in tomorrow.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).