Shigella Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Shigella Blog

GATE GOURMET OUTBREAK FACTS

In September, 2004, health agencies from many U.S. states, as well as international health agencies, began reporting persons ill with Shigella sonnei infections. Tests conducted on many U.S. residents who had cultured positive for the bacteria revealed a matching genetic pattern amongst the samples provided. Epidemiological investigation revealed that a cluster of persons ill with the genetically identical strain of Shigella sonnei had traveled by air from Honolulu, Hawaii during August 22 through 24, 2004.

Further investigation established that food from the defendant, Gate Gourmet, Inc.’s, Honolulu, Hawaii location, was the common link between the airlines and the cluster of persons ill with the genetically identical strain of Shigella sonnei. On February 25 and 26, 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected the Gate Gourmet, Inc., facility located at 324 Rodgers Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii, which provides food and beverage service to various airlines at Honolulu Airport. By letter to the defendant’s Chairman and CEO dated April 21, 2005, FDA District Director Barbara Cassens noted that, “The observations made during the inspection revealed that your facility is in violation of the Public Health Service Act and the Interstate Conveyance Sanitation regulations.”

The District Director’s letter listed a litany of violations:

•Perishable food holding temperature violations: “Cooked turkey placed in the refrigerator at 10:30 a.m. showed a temperature of 98° F at 2:50 p.m. . . . Cooked pork placed in the refrigerator at 10:00 a.m. showed a temperature of 87° F at 2:53 p.m.”
•Pest and vermin violations: “Your firm failed to construct and maintain your facility to be free from flies and other vermin.” Also, “in the pot wash area, salad area and hallways were dirty uncovered trash cans and trash carts with fruit flies and cockroaches in and near them.”
•Equipment maintenance and cleanliness violations: “Handles of all refrigeration units were dirty and sticky with old food residue build up . . . The reach-in refrigerator had mold growing on the windows . . . [and] A pink slimy substance was dripping onto the conveyor at the ‘clean end’ of the pot washing machine.”
•Bare-handed contact with ready-to-serve items: “Specifically, ice used for drinking came into contact with employees’ bare hands while being loaded into bags.”

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MARLER CLARK PRESS RELEASE

SAN DIEGO, CA (September 13, 2006) – A lawsuit was filed today against Filiberto’s, the Arizona restaurant chain whose restaurant located at 3446 University Avenue in San Diego was traced as the source of a food poisoning outbreak in late August, 2006. The lawsuit was filed in San Diego County Superior Court on behalf of Nicole Lewis, a San Diego resident who ate at the restaurant and subsequently became ill with Shigellosis, an illness caused by ingestion of the Shigella bacterium. Ms. Lewis is represented by Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm that has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness, and Keeney, Waite & Stevens, a respected San Diego law firm.

On September 1, 2006, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (SDHHS) and the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health announced that they were working together to investigate an apparent Shigella outbreak among customers who had eaten at the University Avenue Filiberto’s. The restaurant was closed on August 31, and according to a news release issued by SDHHS , at least ten people had become ill with apparent Shigella infections after eating at Filiberto’s in late August, three of whom were hospitalized.

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Marler Clark commenced Shigella litigation against Gate Gourmet, a catering company that supplied Shigella-contaminated food to several airlines with flights departing from the Honolulu, Hawaii airport. The firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of a man who became ill in September 2004 after consuming a meal on board a return flight from Hawaii. Several hundred illnesses have been reported in over 22 States and at least three foreign countries. Marler Clark filed a second lawsuit on behalf of seven more ill individuals on June 22, 2005.

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ACCORDING TO THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE ON September 2, 2006:

The San Diego county health department has shut down a fast-food Mexican restaurant after 10 customers came down with a bacterial infection.  Filiberto's restaurant at 3446 University Ave. was closed Thursday and will remain closed until the health problems are addressed, the county Health and Human Services Agency said.

The agency said 10 customers who ate at Filiberto's Aug. 24-28 came down with what appears to be the food-borne bacteria Shigella, which causes fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. It is infectious.  Three of the 10 were hospitalized with serious symptoms, county public health officer Dr. Nancy Bowen said.

Shigella is a bacterium that can cause sudden and severe diarrhea (gastroenteritis) in humans. Shigellosis is the name of the disease that Shigella causes. The illness is also known as “bacillary dysentery.” Shigella bacteria can infect the intestinal tract after the ingestion of relatively few organisms. This is why shigellosis is the most communicable of the bacterial-induced diarrheas.

Marler Clark has been involved in litigation on behalf of victims of numerous Shigella outbreaks.  For more information on prior outbreaks, see http://www.marlerclark.com/news-shigella.htm.  We have been contacted by 2 of the 10 customers of this San Diego Shigella outbreak.

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William Marler (Bill) is the managing partner in the law firm Marler Clark L.L.P., P.S. Since 1993, Bill has represented thousands of victims of E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Listeria, Shigella, Campylobacter and Norovirus illnesses in over thirty States.

Food poisoning lawsuits against companies responsible for introducing contaminated food into our food supply have become the focus of Billís professional career as an attorney. Billís first client who was injured after consuming contaminated food was nine-year-old Brianne Kiner, who fell with an E. coli O157:H7 infection and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome after eating a contaminated hamburger during the now-infamous Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak of 1993. Bill negotiated a $15.6 million settlement for Brianneís injuries, a record in the State of Washington for personal injury cases. He resolved several other cases from the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak for over $2.5 million each.

Bill, known as the ìE. coli lawyer,î has since represented thousands of people sickened or killed in outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 and other food borne pathogens, including Salmonella, Hepatitis, Shigella, Campylobacter, Norovirus, and Listeria. In 1998, he negotiated a reported $12 million settlement for the families of children who fell ill after drinking E. coli-contaminated apple juice sold by Odwalla; and in 2001, a jury awarded the families of eleven children Bill represented $4.6 million for the injuries they received during an E. coli outbreak traced to school lunch served at Finley Elementary School in Finley, Washington. He also resolved dozens of E. coli cases in 2003 related to one of the largest meat recalls in United States history. Bill recently settled an E. coli case in New York for a young girl for $11 million. Bill was also able to secure a $6.25 million settlement on behalf of a client who suffered a kidney transplant as part of the Chi-Chiís Hepatitis A outbreak.

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Washington: Royal Fork Shigella Litigation

Marler Clark sued a Mount Vernon restaurant over a food-borne intestinal infection outbreak that sickened at least nine people in January. The civil suit against the Royal Fork was filed last week in Skagit County Superior Court on behalf of Sandra and Lester Hemmingson of Mount Vernon. Sandra Hemmingson was hospitalized for three days and has still not recovered fully from the Shigella outbreak.

Shigellosis is caused by the Shigella bacteria, and is more commonly known as dysentery. Typical symptoms include abdominal pain, stomach cramps, fever, vomiting, bloody diarrhea and rectal spasms. The outbreak was traced back to a female food service worker at the restaurant, who failed to properly wash her hands after using the bathroom.

Multistate Outbreak: Viva Mexico Shigella Litigation

Marler Clark filed suit on behalf of Suzie and Hector Lapuyade in San Mateo County Superior Court against Viva Mexico. Lab tests confirmed that Suzie Lapuyade, 40, and her 9-year-old son, Maurice, contracted shigellosis, a gastrointestinal disease that spreads through bacteria-tainted food. County health officials closed Viva Mexico as more than 250 diners became sick during the last 10 days of October. Lab tests confirm at least 45 cases of shigellosis, but the Lapuyades are the first to file suit.

Multistate Outbreak: Senor Felix Shigella Litigation

An outbreak of shigellosis in Washington and six other Western states stemming from a contaminated Mexican-style dip has developed into a major epidemic of food-borne illness. More than 335 people in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona and Alaska have had confirmed or suspected cases of the bacterial illness, characterized by severe diarrhea, nausea, fever and stomach cramps.

The outbreak is linked to several products of Senor Felix Gourmet Mexican Foods of Baldwin Park, Calif. A class-action lawsuit was filed by Marler Clark alleging negligence by the dip company.

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