Personal Injury Law

Punitive Damages Added to Salmonella Egg Lawsuits by Marler Clark

By Marler Clark LLP

Food Safety Law Firm Asserts Wright County Egg Disregarded Public Health

Food safety law firm Marler Clark today added punitive damages to their lawsuits against Quality Egg/Wright County Egg, which produced the majority of the Salmonella-tainted eggs responsible for a nationwide outbreak. The lawsuits were amended after actions by the company's owners, the DeCoster family, were brought to light during the hearing on the outbreak held by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The amended lawsuits were filed by Marler Clark and Wandro, Baer, and McCarthy.

'At the hearings in Washington it became clear that the DeCoster family has operated its businesses with willful and wanton disregard for the safety of the people who purchased and consumed its products,' said food safety attorney Bill Marler. 'It is no longer enough for them to pay for the medical bills they have cost our clients and hundreds of American consumers—the DeCosters will also have to face and pay punitive damages to the people they sickened.'

In August 2010, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms together recalled 550,000,000 eggs due to contamination with Salmonella. Thousands of people were sickened across the US by the tainted eggs. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held hearings into the outbreak on Wednesday, September 22nd.

Full post as published by Salmonella Blog on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).