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Marler Clark has brought claims on behalf of victims of E. coli outbreaks traced to ground beef, lettuce, sprouts, apple juice, and other foods. The firm has litigated against the meat producers, fresh produce firms, restaurants, supermarkets, and other entities responsible for E. coli outbreaks.
Below is a list of E. coli outbreak cases Marler Clark has been involved in. The links will take you to the Marler Clark Web site, where you can read more about the outbreaks and about Marler Clark.
AgVenture Farms Petting Zoo E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Litigation – Florida
On April 15, 2005, the Florida Department of Health announced that it had traced thirty confirmed and 47 suspected cases of E. coli O157:H7 infection. The Health Department ultimately traced the E. coli outbreak to contact with animals at three separate petting zoos, all operated by AgVenture Farms, from Plant City, Florida.
Over a dozen children were hospitalized with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a complication of E. coli O157:H7 infection that can lead to kidney failure.
Bauer Meat E. coli Litigation – Georgia
Marler Clark represented the family of an 11-year-old Georgia boy who spent four days in the hospital after becoming ill with E. coli O157:H7 after eating a contaminated hamburger at Danielsville Elementary School in April of 1998.
The meat was traced to Bauer Meat Co. of Ocala Florida, leading federal officials to close down the company and recall 38,000 pounds of ground beef that had been distributed to schools, military bases and other institutions in Georgia and North Carolina.
BJ's Wholesale Club E. coli Litigation - New York and New Jersey
At least 18 people in suburban New York and New Jersey were poisoned by E. coli O157:H7 that was eventually traced to bulk ground beef bought from BJ's Wholesale Club.
The Massachusetts-based wholesaler initially denied any responsibility, but eventually agreed to a limited recall of ground beef.
Marler Clark represented the most seriously ill children who were sickened by eating hamburgers made from the tainted beef in the summer of 2002.
Carneco/ Sam’s Club E. coli Litigation – Minnesota
Marler Clark represented a 10-year-old Minnesota boy poisoned by E. coli O157:H7 contamination in ground beef processed by Carneco Foods, of Nebraska, and sold by Sam’s Club in Eagan, Minnesota, in the summer of 2004. The youth suffered more than a week of extreme pains and bloody diarrhea, followed by a month of weakness and exhaustion.
The outbreak eventually prompted federal authorities to recall nearly 500,000 pounds of frozen ground beef patties manufactured by Carneco, some of which was branded as “Northern Plains” and sold at Sam’s Club stores in Minnesota.
CCC Alternative Learning Program Daycare E. coli Litigation - Texas
In June of 2002, the Tarrant County Public Health Department Disease Control Section was notified of the hospitalization of a 2-year old child with a diagnosis of hemolytic uremic syndrome or HUS, a complication of an E. coli O157:H7 infection. Over the following days, the Tarrant County Public Health Department (TCPHD) was notified of several additional cases of E. coli O157:H7 infections, which included five positive stool cultures. All of the identified cases were associated with the CCC Alternative Learning Program Daycare in Fort Worth, Texas.
In the end, the TCPHD identified 15 cases of E. coli O157:H7 associated with the daycare, including 12 children, one daycare staff member and one parent of a daycare attendee. TCPDH conducted an investigation into the source of the infections. TCPDH reported that the investigation identified “several breaches in food preparation and procedures at the daycare facility.”
TCPDH reported that “many parents report food being prepared and served (at the daycare), which was prior to city permitting.” TCPDH also stated that appropriate sources of drinking water were not available in the building housing the smaller children. Staff reported to TCPDH that water jugs were filled using the bathroom sink. TCPDH stated that a swimming pool at the facility was reported in use with murky water prior to chlorination and without permitting for use by the city.
Perhaps most importantly, staff, parents and children reported the frequent practice of having portable lunches out on the daycare grounds by a pond, which collected pasture run off of nearby grazing cattle. TCPDH reported that several water samples of pond water confirmed a heavy concentration of E. coli O157:H7.
The City of Fort Worth Consumer Health Division cited the facility for multiple violations.
Marler Clark represented the family of a little girl who became ill with E. coli and HUS in litigation against the daycare facility.
China Buffet E. coli Litigation – Minnesota
Marler Clark represented Iva Hayes, a woman who became severely ill with an E. coli infection after eating at a China Buffet restaurant in Alexandria, Minnesota. She suffered from Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP), and was hospitalized for months.
ConAgra E. coli Litigation - Multi-state Outbreak
In the early summer of 2002, hospitals saw a sudden increase of patients, most young children, with acute food poisoning – illnesses that eventually were diagnosed as E. coli O157:H7. The E. coli outbreak sickened people across the Midwest, in cities and towns ranging from Colorado and South Dakota to Missouri and Ohio. In late June, the E. coli was traced to ground beef from a sprawling ConAgra meat-packing plant in Greeley Colorado, a short drive north of Denver. That disclosure eventually led to the recall of 18 million pounds of ConAgra ground beef, the largest such recall in history.
Marler Clark represented most of the victims of the outbreak, which led to at least 46 illnesses and one death. Among the victims were an Ohio childcare worker, a Colorado security officer who was battling forest firefighters, and young children in Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota. Several of them were hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially fatal kidney disease caused by E. coli O157:H7.
Crossroads Farm Petting Zoo E. coli O157:H7 Litigation - North Carolina
In October, 2004, approximately 106 people became ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections after visiting the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. The outbreak was the largest in North Carolina state history, and several children suffered Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome secondary to E. coli infection.
The North Carolina Department of Health confirmed 33 case-patients to be ill with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 genetically indistinguishable from nineteen of thirty environmental specimens from the Crossroads Farm Petting zoo at the fairgrounds.
Dee Creek Farms E. coli Litigation - Washington and Oregon
In December, 2005, raw milk produced at Dee Creek Farm as part of a cow share program was pinpointed as the source of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that sickened at least 18 people. Over a dozen children were hospitalized with E. coli infections after drinking the unpasteurized milk.
Dole Lettuce E. coli O157:H7 Litigation - Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Oregon
In September, 2005, the Minnesota Department of Health warned consumers not to eat Dole-brand prepackaged lettuce products sold at stores throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul area because the lettuce had been traced as the source of an E. coli outbreak that had sickened 23 consumers.
Marler Clark filed lawsuits on behalf of Minnesota and Oregon residents who became ill with E. coli infections after eating the Dole-brand lettuce, including an eleven-year-old girl who was hospitalized for over a month with hemolytic uremic syndrome secondary to her E. coli infection.
See also Natural selections E. coli litigation
Emmpak E. coli Litigation – Wisconsin
On September 5, 2002, a statewide notice was issued to local health departments, and regional offices of the Wisconsin Department Public Health, reporting a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses, and announcing the initiation of a case-control study. This was the first in a series of events and investigations that would ultimately result in the recall of 2.8 million pounds of Emmpak-manufactured ground beef that was suspected of being adulterated with E. coli O157:H7.
One Emmpak plant was closed for what was deemed by the USDA-FSIS to be inadequate sampling and testing procedures.
In all, 57 people were sickened by the consumption of adulterated ground beef, 35 of them in Wisconsin.
Excel E. coli Litigation – Georgia
Marler Clark represented the family of a 12-year-old Norcross, Georgia, boy, who was infected with a strain of E. coli bacteria after eating a tainted hamburger, in litigation against Excel Corp. meatpacking company in 2001.
Alexander White became sick and was hospitalized for four days after eating a hamburger made from meat purchased at a Sam's Club store in Duluth. Three other Georgia children also became ill with the same strain of E. coli after eating contaminated meat produced by Excel.
After the illnesses were discovered, Excel recalled 190,811 pounds of ground beef and ground pork it supplied to Kroger supermarkets in the Southeast.
See also Sizzler E. coli Litigation or Emmpak E. coli Litigation
Finley School District E. coli Litigation – Washington
In 2001, Marler Clark won a record $4.6 million judgment on behalf of 11 children sickened by E. coli O157:H7 in undercooked taco meat served at a school lunch at Finley Elementary School in southeast Washington State. The jury award was subsequently upheld, and the state Supreme Court declined to review that decision.
A jury agreed with state Health Department investigators who concluded that the E. coli infections came from hamburger meat that had been frozen, then inadequately thawed and cooked for the school lunches. Most of the award went to a young girl, then just 2 years old, who didn’t eat the meal but was later infected by one of the older victims. The youngster underwent kidney dialysis and is expected to have lifelong aftereffects from the E. coli toxins.
Marler Clark also reached an out-of-court settlement with Northern States Beef, the company that provided the raw meat to the school district.
Marler Clark represented many of the dozens of consumers sickened by potentially deadly E. coli O157:H7 poisoning after eating pre-packaged lettuce served at Pat & Oscar’s, a Southern California restaurant chain, and in school lunches, in October, 2003.
Most of the victims were young children who ate salads at Pat & Oscar’s restaurants in San Diego and Orange Counties. State officials traced the E. coli to lettuce grown by Gold Coast, of Oxnard, CA, and distributed by F.T. Produce Inc. of Anaheim.
A Carlsbad High School student was hospitalized twice after contracting hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can cause kidney failure.
Golden Corral E. coli O157:H7 Litigation – Nebraska
In 1999, a Golden Corral restaurant in central Nebraska was the source of an E. coli outbreak that sickened nearly 80 people. The outbreak was linked to contaminated lettuce served at the restaurant.
Habaneros E. coli Litigation – Missouri
A 20-year-old St. Louis woman nearly died from E. coli O157:H7 poisoning contracted after eating a $5 burrito at Habaneros, a once-popular Mexican restaurant at the St. Clair Square Mall in the St. Louis suburb of Fairview Heights.
Marler Clark represented five individuals who became ill with infection in E. coli litigation against Habaneros. Four of the cases were filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court, but all settled in August, 2004 without going to trial.
Jack in the Box E. coli litigation – Washington
More than 600 people were sickened, and four children died, following a 1993 outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that was blamed on undercooked hamburgers purchased from Jack in the Box restaurants in Washington and other Western states.
The outbreak was traced to ground beef from wholesaler Von Companies of California, and sold by Jack in the Box franchises across the West. Documents from Foodmaker, the San Diego-based parent company, showed that the company had been warned by local health departments and by their own employees that they were undercooking their hamburgers. But the company had decided that cooking beef to the Washington State standard of 155 degrees made the meat too tough.
Lawyers now at Marler Clark handled most of the litigation, which resulted in individual and class-action settlements totaling more than $50 million – the largest payments ever involving food-borne illness. The sickest victims were mostly younger children, including four who eventually died. A nine-year-old Seattle girl, who recovered after being in a coma for 42 days, won a $15.6 million settlement from the company.
Karl Ehmer Meats E. coli Litigation – New Jersey
A 20-month-old New Jersey boy died of E. coli poisoning in August, 2000, ten days after eating barbecued ground beef purchased at Karl Ehmer Meats in Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey. Marler Clark represented the family, who were also sickened by the outbreak, but recovered.
The butcher shop, part of an East Coast chain, recalled its ground beef after health officials tested frozen hamburger in the family’s freezer and traced the meat to the local shop.
Kentucky Fried Chicken E. coli Litigation – Ohio
E. coli-contaminated coleslaw was determined to be the source of an outbreak that sickened twelve people near Cincinnati. Marler Clark represented a woman who spent over a month in the hospital.
Kid's Korner Daycare E. coli Litigation – Missouri
As many as 26 children were sickened, several of them critically, by an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 at the Kid’s Korner Day Care Center in Joplin, in southwest Missouri in 2004. Marler Clark represents the family of a two-year-old who suffered kidney failure from hemolytic uremic syndrome, or “HUS.”
Investigators traced the outbreak to the daycare center after several cases of E. coli poisoning were reported in the Joplin area.
The two-year-old toddler was hospitalized for nearly three weeks, including a full week of kidney dialysis, seven blood transfusions and three surgeries.
Kindercare E. coli Litigation – California
In August of 2000, the Kindercare facility located on Lexington Drive in Folsom, California, was traced as the source of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. Health department officials who investigated the outbreak determined that the probable “index case” – a child who unknowingly brought the bacteria into the facility – experienced “explosive diarrhea at the daycare on the afternoon of 8-3-00.”
Shortly thereafter, four other children became infected with E. coli O157:H7 on successive days, the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th of August, 2000. All of the children were in the same day care group. In addition to the illnesses of the children, the mother of one child, and another child’s sibling became ill and tested positive for E. coli. Another toddler also became ill.
According to the Facility Evaluation Report by the Department of Social Services dated November 7, 2000, “[t]he cause of the [E. coli O157:H7] outbreak [at the Lexington Drive Kindercare] was due to a sponge being used simultaneously for wiping down a changing table and wiping down a table used for serving meals.”
Marler Clark represented the families of children who became ill with E. coli as part of the Kindercare outbreak in litigation against Kindercare.
King Garden E. coli Litigation – Ohio
Marler Clark represented three Ohio families devastated in 2002 by an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 traced to the King Garden restaurant in Wooster, Ohio. At least 11 people, most of them young children, were seriously sickened by the contaminated food – probably Jell-O that had been stored in a refrigerator directly beneath contaminated meat.
The young victims suffered long periods of bloody diarrhea, cramps, stomach pains and more. One child suffered kidney failure.
Health officials said the restaurant had a long-standing problem with sanitation, including improper hand washing, lack of hot water at the hand-washing sink, failure to use hair restraints, meats and vegetables stored in uncovered containers, failure to clean knives and other utensils, rodent droppings and more.
Lane County Fair E. coli Litigation – Oregon
Marler Clark represented many of the victims of the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak at the Lane County Fair in Eugene, Oregon, in the summer of 2002. Of the 82 victims, nearly two-thirds were children younger than age six. Many of them had not directly touched any animals.
In Eugene, health investigators established a genetic link between the E. coli among the victims and the barnyard animals at the fair. Officials identified E. coli bacteria on or near air circulation ducts, leading them to believe the toxins were spread through the air.
The Lane County outbreak was one of the worst of recent E. coli outbreaks linked to rural county fairs and petting zoos around the country. Since the outbreak, Lane County and many other fairs have installed hand-washing stations and signs warning fairgoers to wash their hands thoroughly after touching animals.
Natural Selections Foods Spinach E. coli Outbreak – Nationwide
On September 14, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a nationwide E. coli O157:H7outbreak had been associated with the consumption of baby spinach. Multiple spinach recalls ensued, and on September 19, 2006, FDA announced that all spinach implicated in the outbreak had been traced back to Natural Selection Foods LLC of San Juan Bautista, California, a company located in the Salinas Valley.
As of October 12, 2006, FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had confirmed 204 E. coli illnesses associated with the outbreak, including thirty-one cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, 104 hospitalizations, and three deaths. Victims of the E. coli outbreak were identified in 26 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Wisconsin was the state hardest-hit in the outbreak, with 49 confirmed cases of E. coli. Canada reported one confirmed case.
A joint traceback by FDA and the State of California revealed that four spinach fields were the possible source of the E. coli contamination. The outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 was isolated from cattle fields nearby the implicated spinach fields, as well as from a wild boar that was killed in one of the fields. The investigation into how the outbreak originated is ongoing.
Marler Clark represents 93 victims of the E. coli outbreak, and has filed lawsuits on behalf of individuals from Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Nebraska, New York, Utah, and Wisconsin.
Odwalla juice E. coli Litigation – Nationwide
Marler Clark represented most of the seriously-effected victims of an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 traced to Odwalla apple juice in 1996. At least 70 persons were sickened, and a 16-month-old Colorado girl died, from drinking Odwalla juice that was not pasteurized. The apple juice is believed to have become contaminated via apples that fell off trees and into cow manure before being harvested for juice. The case had a nationwide impact, demonstrating that foodborne illness can be contracted from fresh produce as well as meats.
Odwalla had built its reputation for producing “fresh” juice with no preservatives. But investigators eventually concluded that its juices contained dangerously high bacterial contamination – so much that prior to the outbreak, the U.S. Army had refused to buy Odwalla products.
The sickest victims were children in Seattle, Colorado and Washington, D.C., several of whom suffered from hemolytic uremic syndrome and permanent kidney damage. Odwalla, based in Half Moon Bay, California, eventually paid a multi-million-dollar settlement to the victims and their families. Odwalla began pasteurizing its juices after the 1996 outbreak.
Olive Garden E. coli Litigation – Oregon
The Gresham, Oregon Olive Garden Restaurant was the source of at least 18 E. coli infections during April, 2005. Marler Clark represented a woman who became ill with an E. coli infection and was treated at the ER for severe symptoms of E. coli infection.
In September and October of 2005, Washington state and Oregon health officials traced an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak to contaminated parsley grown in Oregon. The parsley was served at restaurants in Washington and Oregon, and was the source of E. coli outbreaks among patrons of several restaurants, including the Boat Shed restaurant in Bremerton, Washington, several Seattle-area Olive Garden restaurants, and a McGrath’s Fish House restaurant in Bend, Oregon.
Marler Clark filed a lawsuit on behalf of one woman who became ill with an E. coli infection in November, 2005.
Pat & Oscar's E. coli Litigation – California
See Gold Coast Produce E. coli Litigation
Peninsula Village E. coli Litigation – Tennessee
A CDC investigation in 1999 determined that the source of an E. coli outbreak at Peninsula Village was food prepared in the cafeteria. Catherine Russe, a resident at Peninsula village, was hospitalized after she began suffering from Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. Marler Clark is representing her in a lawsuit against Peninsula Village.
Robeson Schools E. coli Outbreak - North Carolina
Homemade, unpasteurized butter was the probable source of E. coli O157:H7 contamination that sickened at least 200 people at Prospect Elementary School in rural Robeson County, North Carolina, in the fall of 2001. State officials called it the largest such outbreak in state history.
Marler Clark represented 34 of the people most-effected by the outbreak, including the family of an 11-year-old sixth-grader who spent six days in the hospital with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), which frequently leads to kidney failure.
An epidemiological report blamed the outbreak on homemade butter served to students as a classroom demonstration. The butter was not pasteurized.
See Carneco e. coli Litigation
Sizzler and Excel E. coli Litigation – Wisconsin
The City of Milwaukee Health Department was contacted by Children’s Hospital on July 24, 2000 regarding a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 cases. Eventually, sixty-four confirmed cases were discovered – 62 linked to the Layton Sizzler and two linked to the Mayfair Sizzler. Dozens of these individuals were hospitalized; four developed HUS and one died. In addition to the confirmed cases, the State noted that there were reports of 551 probable cases, and another 122 possible cases.
The Wisconsin State Department of Health set forth determined the outbreak’s source to be fresh watermelon that had been cross-contaminated with raw meat products. Sirloin tri-tips were the source of the E. coli bacteria, and the Department of Health concluded that employees at Sizzler restaurants may have contributed to the outbreak.
Marler Clark represented seventeen individuals in lawsuits against Sizzler USA, and continues E. coli litigation against Excel Corp., who supplied the contaminated tri-tips to Sizzler. All pending lawsuits were settled in 2006.
Sodexho / Sequoias Retirement Center E. coli Outbreak Litigation – California
Two elderly women died and dozens more residents and employees were sickened by E. coli O157:H7 traced to pre-packaged spinach served by a food service at the Sequoias Portola Valley retirement home in California in October, 2003.
Marler Clark settled the cases of two victims of the outbreak at the 315-resident complex near Palo Alto, California. The spinach was served by Sodexho USA, a multinational food service that provides more than 1 million meals per day to a wide variety of institutions.
Health officials traced the source of the E. coli O157:H7 to packaged spinach which was marketed as “pre-washed,” but was not rinsed by the Sodexho kitchen staff.
Spokane Produce E. coli Litigation – Washington
In the summer of 2002, more than 50 high school dancers contracted E. coli O157:H7 from pre-packaged lettuce served at a dance camp in Spokane, Washington. Marler Clark represents several of the victims, including a Spokane teenager who had to endure dialysis treatments because her kidneys were severely damaged by the E. coli.
The Spokane outbreak illustrates the widespread misconception that E. coli is transmitted only in tainted meats. Federal and state authorities agree that the pathogen is frequently transmitted to lettuce, onions and other vegetables and fruits, probably by way of irrigation water contaminated with cow manure.
In the aftermath of the outbreak, the federal Food and Drug Administration issued a rare warning that consumers should throw out prepackaged bags of Romaine lettuce packaged that summer by Spokane Produce.
Stop & Shop E. coli Litigation - New Hampshire
Marler Clark filed an E. coli lawsuit against Stop & Shop on behalf of an eight-year-old New Hampshire boy who became ill with an E. coli infection after eating a contaminated hamburger made from meat purchased at a Stop & Shop in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Supervalu E. coli Litigation – Minnesota
In 2000, an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to AFG ground beef sold by Supervalu and Cub Foods devastated families throughout the Midwest. Marler Clark represented several Wisconsin families who sued the companies.
During the last week of November and the beginning of December, 2006, state and local health departments in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware began receiving reports of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses among patrons of Taco Bell restaurants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) joined an investigation into the outbreak, and on December 13, 2006, announced that at 71 people had become sick with an illness associated with the Taco Bell restaurant outbreak. Of those 71, 53 people had been hospitalized, 52 people were confirmed ill with E. coli, and 8 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome.
The investigation into the Taco Bell E. coli outbreak focused first on green onions as the source, but CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigators later changed their focus to lettuce. According to an FDA news release on December 13, FDA investigators were working to trace back the potentially contaminated lettuce that had been served at Taco Bell restaurants to the farm where the lettuce was grown.
Marler Clark has filed lawsuits against Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in connection with this E. coli outbreak. The firm also named Ready Pac Produce, the fresh produce supplier for Taco Bell, as a defendant in both lawsuits.
Taco John’s E. coli Outbreak – Iowa and Minnesota
In December 2006, Iowa and Minnesota health officials investigated an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak among patrons at Taco John’s restaurants in Ceder Falls, Iowa, and Albert Lea and Austin, Minnesota. As of December 13, 2006, the Iowa Department of Health had confirmed that at least 50 Iowans had become ill with E. coli infections after eating at Taco John’s, and the Minnesota Department of Health had confirmed that at least 27 Minnesotans were part of the outbreak.
Although the outbreak occurred at the same time as the Taco Bell E. coli outbreak on the East Coast, the Taco John’s outbreak had not been linked to the Taco Bell E. coli outbreak by mid-December; however, health officials were investigating lettuce as the potential source of both E. coli outbreaks.
Marler Clark filed an E. coli lawsuit on behalf of a Cedar Falls, Iowa, family whose nine-year-old daughter was hospitalized with an E. coli infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome on December 14, 2006. The firm filed a second E. coli lawsuit against Taco John’s on December 19, 2006, and has been contacted by several other individuals who became ill with E. coli infections after eating at Taco John's restaurants in Iowa and Minnesota.
Topps Meats E. coli Litigation - New York
Marler Clark filed a lawsuit on behalf of an 8-year-old Albany, New York, girl who became ill with an E. coli infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome after eating a hamburger produced by topps Meats and purchased at Price Chopper.
Washington County Fair E. coli Outbreak - New York
An E. coli O157:H7 outbreak stemming from a contaminated well at the Washington County Fair in New York in 1999 sickened over 1,000 people, sent 65 to the hospital, and claimed two lives.
The outbreak was linked to an unchlorinated well at the Washington County Fair that was contaminated with manure from a barn only 83-feet away. Water from the tainted well was used for drinking, food preparation and hand-washing.
Wendy’s E. coli Litigation – Oregon
Two Oregon Wendy's restaurants were determined to be the source of an E. coli outbreak that devastated families. Children developed HUS, and were on kidney dialysis.
Marler Clark represented several individuals and the families of individuals sickened in the outbreak.
Wendy's E. coli Litigation – Utah
On August 7, 2006, the Weber-Morgan Health Department (WMHD) announced that four people had become ill with E. coli O121:H19 infections after eating iceburg lettuce prepared at the Wendy’s restaurant located at 2500 N 400 E in North Ogden, Utah. WMHD announced that three of the four people confirmed ill with E. coli infections had developed hemolytic uremic syndrome.
WMHD’s investigation into the outbreak revealed that Wendy’s had catered a CORE Academy luncheon held at Orion Junior High School in Harrisville, Utah, on June 30 and that more than 300 people were potentially exposed to the E. coli O121:H19 bacterium. Two individuals who ate salads at the CORE luncheon were confirmed ill with E. coli O121:H19 illnesses; one developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Further investigation revealed that one ill individual consumed hamburgers purchased at the Wendy’s restaurant on June 27, 28, and 29 and also developed HUS.
Marler Clark filed a lawsuit against Wendy’s on August 11, 2006. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a family who became ill with E. coli O121:H19 infections after the mother attended the CORE Academy conference in Harrisville and became ill. One child was hospitalized with HUS. The firm also represents two women who became ill with E. coli infections and HUS and suffered acute kidney failure.
White Water Waterpark E. coli Litigation – Georgia
In the summer of 1998, 26 children became ill from E. coli O157:H7 contracted while playing in the kiddie pool at White Water Park, a commercial water park in suburban Atlanta. Seven of those children were hospitalized and a 2-year-old boy died from hemolytic uremic syndrome, a kidney disorder caused by E. coli O157:H7.
Operators of the pool initially denied responsibility for the E. coli outbreak, but investigators determined that the chlorine level in the pool was well below the local health standard on the days when the water was contaminated, greatly increasing the risk of infection.
Marler Clark represented most of the victims and their families, eventually obtaining millions of dollars in settlements. The incident also increased national awareness of the hazards of water contamination, prompting the industry to pay closer attention to pool cleaning and chlorine.
