Listeria Lawyer Explains Lawsuit Details

Posted on October 1, 2011 by PritzkerLaw

National food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker draws from years of experience in this thoughtful conversation about Listeria litigation in the Jensen Farms cantaloupe outbreak that has killed at least 15 people and sickened 84 in 19 states. Reporter Andrew Mach does an excellent job. Here are excerpts from his story in the Christian Science Monitor. 

It wasn’t long after officials linked a listeria outbreak with cantaloupe from a Colorado farm that wrongful-death and personal-injury lawsuits began to be filed.

Cantaloupe Food PoisoningThe outbreak, which is the deadliest food crisis in more than a decade, has killed at least 15 people and sickened 84 others in 19 states. Earlier this month, after the listeria link was made, Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., issued a voluntary recall of its Rocky Ford brand of cantaloupes.

Now, victims and families of victims in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas have filed at least five lawsuits against Jensen Farms. One lawsuit is also against Wal-Mart for allegedly being among the grocery stores selling the cantaloupe in question.

However, it’s hardly a given that the plaintiffs – who have already incurred considerable expenses because of their ordeal – will receive the compensation that lawyers tell them they deserve. This could be especially true because Jensen Farms is a local grower, a third-generation family farm, with limited capital.

Jensen Farms is not a major corporation that has significant financial assets,” says Fred Pritzker, a Minneapolis-based attorney specializing in food-poisoning cases who is representing two victims in Illinois and New York. “When you factor in the severity of the illness and the number of deaths and illnesses that will be attributed to this in the days and weeks to come, you just know they don’t have nearly enough assets to fully compensate them.”
Mr. Pritzker says that by the time he gets to trial in most food-poisoning cases, the discussion focuses less on proving the source of the outbreak and more about what would be a reasonable amount of money to award the victim.
 
The trials related to the listeria outbreak will probably follow that pattern, he says, since Jensen Farms’ recall of an estimated 4.5 million cantaloupes was based on findings confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration.
 
While Jensen Farms and Wal-Mart have been named in lawsuits so far, it’s altogether possible that other entities will become the target of subsequent lawsuits, as state and federal officials trace the paths of contamination. The chain of distribution for the cantaloupes includes other grocery stores as well as processing facilities and shippers. 
Especially in cases involving small businesses, it’s common for plaintiffs to pursue all available avenues. “If other parties involved bear some of the responsibility, we look to them to supplement the pool of money that is available to the victims,” Pritzker says. 
Victims sue for a host of reasons, which lawyers must evaluate as they consider the amount of damages to request. For Pritzker, finding a balance represents the crux of food-safety litigation. 
It’s not fair that the rest of the industry ends up paying,” he says, “but it’s a lot less fair for somebody who’s injured by that industry.”
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