How A Food Poisoning Lawyer Can Help You Seek Compensation 🤢

1 in 6 Americans gets sick from food poisoning each year.

48 million Americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from a foodborne disease, according to the CDC.

From a legal standpoint, food poisoning is considered a personal injury and a food poisoning lawyer may file a liability lawsuit seeking compensation.

Despite the horrific rate of injuries, hospitalizations, and deaths, food poisoning is a preventable problem. For this reason, it’s important for you to consider seeking compensation for your injury, medical bills, or wrongful death.

Today, we’re taking a closer look at what a food poisoning lawyer can do to help.

A Food Poisoning Lawyer Will Help You Seek Compensation

It’s not uncommon for foodborne illnesses to make headlines. Chipotle, for example, was linked to incidents in 2015 for E. coli and norovirus poisoning in several states, causing 43 restaurants to be shut down. These are just two of the many viruses and bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Other possible sources include Botulism, Listeria, Salmonella, Vibrio, and Shigella.

Grocery stores, restaurants, and other food distributor are responsible for preparing and distributing safe foods. If they do not, then customers have the right to sue the business under legal theories like strict product liability or negligence.

You may have tried a new restaurant locally or perhaps took a holiday and went on a tour where you tried new culinary experiences. And you may have fallen ill as a result. But it could happen anywhere, with restaurants, shops, food markets, caterers, or others involved with the handling of food.

All food handlers, manufacturers and distributors are liable to the public for the safety of the food entrusted to them. If they violate that trust and you become ill, you can sue.

Strict Liability

California has a strict liability law that means you just have to show that the food was contaminated and that contamination made you sick. You don’t have to show that the manufacturer, preparer, or distributor was not sufficiently careful in their duties.

Negligence

In cases where strict liability is not available as a defense, you can claim negligence, showing that the responsible party was not reasonably careful (failed to exercise reasonable care) in making or distributing the contaminated food that made you sick.

A restaurant may have kept a dirty kitchen or failed to keep food safe in the proper kind of storage facility.

If a restaurant or other responsible party were found “grossly negligent,” there may be punitive damages involved. This would mean that the party showed a blatant disregard for regulations. Punitive damages can include medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other damages for compensation.

Breach of Warranties

Many states impose minimum legal requirements on food preparers and distributors, called “implied warranties.” The expectation is that these people will act responsibly in the execution of their duties. If they do not, they essentially are putting a defective product on the market.

An implied warranty means that a product will conform to an ordinary buyer’s expectations and will have at least minimum expected quality. If you are poisoned by the food you expected to be safe, you can claim that the food did not conform to an ordinary buyer’s expectations.

There is also the situation of expressed warranties, where a manufacturer or distributor makes a claim that a product has a certain benefit or feature (i.e. triple-washed salad), and if found to be false, they can be held accountable for breach of those warranties.

Identify the Responsible Parties

If you are going to bring a lawsuit for food poisoning, you should include everyone involved in the food chain, tracing the contamination back to its source. This could include the farm or food processing company, the retailer (like restaurant or grocery store), and all of the wholesalers, suppliers, and distributors.

An attorney can help identify all the parties involved and establish their responsibility in maintaining a healthy and safe food environment as well as any liability they face.

Proving Your Case

Proving that you became ill from food poisoning may be difficult. The time delay between consuming the food and the onset of your illness is a big factor in determining liability.

If, however, a government agency has already linked a food you consumed to an outbreak of food poisoning, you would have a stronger case.

If there is a class action suit in progress based on food poisoning, you might be able to join that group. You could also choose to file your own lawsuit.

To win your suit, you have to prove the food you consumed was contaminated and that contamination made you sick.

The Food Was Contaminated

There are several forms of contamination including biological, physical, and chemical. An attorney can help determine which one affected you.

The best way to prove contamination is to show that other people were also made sick by the same food. Contamination can also be proven by scientific analysis of the food to identify disease-causing microbes that were present in the food. A medical specialist may be called to identify the specific pathogens that caused the illness.

If your illness is bacterial, testing can determine a “DNA fingerprint.” People who became sick from bacteria with the same DNA fingerprint were most likely infected by the same source. Testing can also reveal the geographic location of the source product.

Leftover food can also be used to indicate contamination. Your attorney will inquire as to this possibility for added evidence in your case.

The Food Made You Sick

You will have to show you were made sick by the contaminated food. The best way is to provide a stool sample for scientific testing. Showing that the disease-causing microbes were in your system will help prove your claim.

Becoming sick will demonstrate that you suffered a degree of harm or injury as a result of the contamination. But the actual degree of sickness may determine whether it is worthwhile to file an action in court against the store or restaurant. You and your attorney should consult to make this determination.

What to Do As Soon As You Suspect Food Poisoning

As soon as you get sick, you should make a detailed list of everything you’ve eaten in the previous 48 hours. Contact your personal physician. He may ask you to provide a stool sample that can help identify the pathogen, and the results can become evidence should you decide to sue.

You should also contact your environmental health department (e.g. the FDA has a Reportable Food Registry) and report the incident. They may decide to do a spot check of the premises where you were infected.

It’s a good idea to contact everyone else you know who ate at the same place for a couple of reasons. Find out if they got sick, too. This will serve as a warning that it is possible for them to get sick. Their illness will strengthen your case as well. Tell them you are suing the restaurant or food preparer. They can be witnesses for you.

Contact an attorney and notify the restaurant or catering service, etc., that you are filing a lawsuit. Give them a chance to respond. But have your attorney involved to protect your legal status before the suit is brought.

So, it’s your decision on whether to sue or not. Occasional food poisoning is, unfortunately, rather common in the commercial world. If you don’t feel well after a dinner where you tried some new kind of food, you probably don’t need to call a lawyer.

But if you became seriously ill, had to see a doctor or go to a hospital, and had to pay medical bills, then perhaps you ought to make that call.

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