G&G Restaurant Corp, owner of Hamilton’s Restaurant in Glenview, Illinois, filed what could be the first in a bumper crop of class-action lawsuits on Monday.

Class-action suits allow numerous plaintiffs with relatively small claims to band together to seek redress.

Unlike other actions filed in the latest outbreak, the lawsuit does not allege physical harm but seeks only compensation for money spent on spinach that had to be discarded.

The suit’s defendant is Natural Selection Foods, a San Juan Bautista, California-based company that sells prepackaged spinach under the Earthbound Farm brand. Federal authorities have identified Natural Selection as a possible source of the E. coli outbreak.

In G&G’s case, the amount sought is $40. But with a class-action lawsuit, the total amount for Natural Selection may be significantly larger, depending on how many consumers, restaurants, and retail operations seek reimbursement for purchases.