Personal Injury Law

Food Safety and the Law - off to University of Arkansas School of Law

Posted on September 05, 2009
I am off to the Arkansas School of Law later this week to give a series of lectures on Food Safety and how the law can assist in making our food supply safer.  I am using a video from Jack-in-the-Box and a recent Raw Milk case to add to why it is "a bad idea to poison your customer...

S. 510 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (Introduced in Senate)

Posted on September 05, 2009
The House has passed its version of the Food Safety Act, now it is the Senate's turn - We shall see if they can pass anything.  Here is my summary: Inspections of Records • Secretary can access business records relating to any food (under FDA jurisdiction) the Secretary believes is adulterated or any other food the Secretary believes is likely to be affected in a similar manner...

Noted Food Safety Lawyer to Speak at School of Law - Arkansas

Posted on September 04, 2009
From the University of Arkansas School of Law Press Room: William Marler, a noted food safety lawyer who has secured more than $500 million for victims of food-borne illness, will make a presentation to the law school's Food Law & Policy class from 8 to 10 a...

Wisconsin Woman Severely Sickened by E. coli in Spinach Forced to Sue Dole, Natural Selection Foods, Mission Organics and Pic-n-Save to Recover Massive Medical Expenses

Posted on September 03, 2009
The 2006 outbreak of E. coli tied to spinach sickened more than 205 people nationwide, many gravely. More than 31 developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) and five lost their lives. One of the most critically ill was Jane Majeska of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, an 85-year old woman whose fight to stay alive in the months after she consumed the Dole E...

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September - National Food Safety Education Month - Really?

Posted on September 03, 2009

Wisconsin Spinach E. coli O157:H7 Lawsuit filed against Dole, Natural Selection Foods, Mission Organics and Pick'n Save

Posted on September 03, 2009

"Let go of my Listeria Eggo" - Kellogg's Eggo Waffles Made In Atlanta Recalled

Posted on September 02, 2009
A laboratory test by the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) found Listeria monocytogenes in a sample of Kellogg's Buttermilk Eggo Waffles manufactured at an Atlanta plant. The sample was taken as part of a routine inspection by GDA of the Kellogg's plant at 5601 Bucknell Dr...

Another Victim of the 2006 Dole Spinach E. coli O157:H7 Stands Up - Lawsuit to Follow

Posted on September 02, 2009
I am always a bit humbled when a victim of food poisoning stands up to the corporations who poisoned them with food – especially food labeled 'triple washed' and 'ready to eat.' Jane and Ben Majeska have been married 60 years in August 2009. Their marriage never faced a challenge in those years of the sort that they endured in the fall of 2006...

A Good Day in the Life of a Traveling Trial Lawyer

Posted on September 02, 2009
I sat in a mediation today in San Francisco until it became painfully obvious that Dole, Natural Selection Foods, Mission Organics and Pic-n-Save were unwilling to fairly compensate a Wisconsin woman who nearly died after eating E. coli O157:H7-tainted spinach in 2006...

"I have a dream" - Linda Rivera gets out of the hospital and the House and Senate do something about food safety

Posted on September 01, 2009
I was much younger when Martin Luther King gave his famous speech – 'I have a dream.'  But, if I could borrow that phase, I too 'have a dream.'  I dream that Tuesday morning House and Senate members and their staff would read Lyndsey Layton's story – 'This Woman Might Die From Eating Cookie Dough - Severe Case Gives Context to Issue of Food Safety' and get to work - really get to work...

In yet another airport working on a Food Safety Speech

Posted on September 01, 2009
I would rather be here: Doing this: But, I am in an airport working on this (click to download):

Food Safety & Quality Magazine - Legal Issues for Food Safety

Posted on August 31, 2009
It is always good to give a legal perspective to the Food Industry - click below to download PDF. Posted with permission from Food Safety and Quality Magazine

Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is heading to WSU in January

Posted on August 30, 2009
I had a great talk with Tristan Baurick as he was writing 'College Discourse Over Food Safety, Courtesy of Bainbridge Lawyer' – that would be me.  As I said, spending a few dollars to bring Michael Pollan to the WSU campus is worth it. It puts: 'Michael Pollan's biting critique of industrial agriculture, 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' — into the hands of every freshman entering a university known for producing the best minds in agribusiness...

More Bad Raw Milk Stories

Posted on August 29, 2009
Summer, or at least August, is drawing to a close in the Northwest – temperatures have dropped below 100 and rain is expected. Really, no global warming? I spent most of last week being supportive, but feeling helpless, as a client who ate E. coli O157:H7-tainted Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough, may well be slowing dying after spending over 100 days in the hospital (still there), loosing her large intestine and gall bladder and spending weeks on dialysis...

The Partnership for Food Safety Education Tackles Four Common Food Safety Myths

Posted on August 27, 2009
Recipes can be handed down from generation to generation and so can myths surrounding food safety -- sometimes with sickening consequences. September is National Food Safety Education Month and the Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE), in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U...

Marler Interview at Eating Well Magazine

Posted on August 27, 2009
Myself, along with a number of others concerned about the safety of our food supply, were recently interviewed for Eating Well Magazine.  Here is my interview: SPECIAL REPORTS - Food Safety Expert: Bill Marler Bill Marler is a managing partner and personal injury lawyer at Marler Clark LLP, PS, and also a national expert in foodborne illness litigation and U...

E. coli O157:H7, O157:NM, and non-O157 serotypes O26:H11, O111:NM, O103:H2, and O145:NM can cause Human Illness - The German Experience.

Posted on August 24, 2009
In my ongoing effort to understand the risk to humans of non E. coli O157:H7, this weekend I read the manuscript 'Molecular Analysis of Virulence Profiles and Shiga Toxin Genes in Food-Borne Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli' by Slanec, T., Fruth, A...

Another Nail in the Grass Feed Beef is better than Grain Feed Beef Coffin

Posted on August 24, 2009
As I wrote a year ago in a blog post, "Grass-Fed vs Grain-Fed Beef and the Holy Grail: A Literature Review," several people have commented that switching from grain to grass feeding could be one of the solutions to the problem with foodborne pathogens in cattle and other livestock...

Another Nail in the Grass Feed Beef is better than Grain Feed Beef Coffin? Perhaps Not?

Posted on August 24, 2009
As I wrote a year ago in a blog post, "Grass-Fed vs Grain-Fed Beef and the Holy Grail: A Literature Review," several people have commented that switching from grain to grass feeding could be one of the solutions to the problem with foodborne pathogens in cattle and other livestock...

The Largest E. coli O111 Outbreak Remembered - Victims Still Mourning - Victims Still Suffering - The Restaurant and Government Still Has Done Nothing to Help

Posted on August 23, 2009
Kim Archer of the Tulsa World has done a great job of recalling the horrors of the United States' largest E. coli O111 outbreak. • 341 were sickened • 70 people were hospitalized, including 22 children • 17 people received kidney dialysis, including eight children • 1 man died Excerpts from the Article about just one of the victims: His entire life, Kenneth Birkes has worked seven days a week from dawn to dark...

Super Lawyer - the list that keeps on giving

Posted on August 22, 2009
Law and Politics Magazine yearly picks lawyers who are voted in by other lawyers as "Super Lawyers."  This year I actually made it on the cover when they did an issue of food poisoning litigation.  Nice to have the recognition.  Perhaps we need a magazine for "Super Clients," so we don not forget what being a trial lawyer is really all about...

The Denis and Bill Show off to Washington DC

Posted on August 21, 2009
Denis Stearns and I will be speaking next week at the FSIS District Managers' Conference on "FSIS' Actions in the Judicial Branch" - here is the PowerPoint:

Food Safety - Now on to the Senate - S 510

Posted on August 20, 2009
 I am in the process of reading S 510 - FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.  Click below to download and read.  This was introduced in March 2009 by Senator Durbin.  The bill is presently in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions...

Third E. coli Lawsuit to be Filed Against JBS Swift Beef Company

Posted on August 19, 2009
Three Family Members Sickened in Wisconsin, One Gravely. A Wisconsin family sickened in the JBS Swift Beef Company outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 will file suit against the company Wednesday. The lawsuit will be brought by the Seattle-based foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark in the Federal Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin...

Hurricane Bill Heads towards the East Coast

Posted on August 19, 2009
Adapted from AP: The first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season has gathered strength with sustained hot air of up to 135 mph, the US National Hurricane Centre said. Hurricane Bill at this time posed no threat to food manufacturers in the Gulf of Mexico but authorities in Bermuda have warned restaurants to be prepared...

Another Peer reviewed Award - My mom would be proud

Posted on August 19, 2009

Non-E. coli O157:H7 Serotypes linked to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS)

Posted on August 18, 2009
I was reading recently an article in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases by R. J. Pomajz, M. Varman, A. Holst and A. Chen entitled, Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) incidence and etiologies at a regional Children's Hospital in 2001–2006...

Seattle Voices - Interview with Bill Marler

Posted on August 17, 2009
Click on below to get to link:

Milan McDonald's Inspection Reports from 2008 - 2009 Paint an Ugly Picture - Hepatitis A Outbreak was Bound to Happen

Posted on August 17, 2009
I must admit having the video of a former employee saying that she worked at McDonald's while infectious with Hepatitis A, and that she told her manager that she had Hepatitis A after the employee was released from the hospital, is priceless.  However, having the inspection reports from the Rock Island County Health Department for 2008-2009 is even better...

The Reality is Non-O157:H7 Shiga-toxin E. coli Causes Human Illness - So, Why Does the USDA and FSIS NOT Consider it an Adulterant?

Posted on August 17, 2009
June Dunning, E. coli O146:H21, 2006, Death Right up until the time of her death, Ms. Dunning remained an active, self-aware and outgoing woman. Her health had always been good too. For the last seven years of her life, June lived in Hagerstown, Maryland with her daughter, and her son-in-law...

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