Families Want Criminal Prosecution for Salmonella Deaths Caused by PCA
Nine Salmonella death cases in the 2008-2009 peanut butter Salmonella outbreak caused a furor in the U.S., but never resulted in criminal charges against officials from the company linked to the outbreak -- Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) of Lynchburg, Virginia.
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On Friday at the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C., Randy Napier of Ohio and Salmonella victims from five other families will be sharing their stories and calling for criminal prosecution of Stewart Parnell, who was PCA's chief executive leading up to the outbreak. Parnell liquidated the company in post-outbreak bankruptcy proceedings and he refused to testify before Congress about evidence gleaned by investigators showing that the company shipped products that initially tested positive for Salmonella. Federal authorities launched a criminal investigation, but two years have passed without indicments.
Nellie Napier, Randy's mother, was the last to die from the contaminated peanut butter sold by PCA under the King Nut brand. She was living in an extended care facility and peanut butter was one of her comfort foods. It wasn't until two days after her death that PCA announced its sweeping recall of all products dating back to 2007. Speaking on behalf of his siblings, Randy has repeatedly voiced outrage over the tragedy and continues to pursue a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit. He and his extended family are represented by national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A. The same firm represents the family of a second fatal victim of the outbreak, as well as others who were sickened.
The press conference will be held concurrently with the Government Accountability Project (GAP) Food Integrity Campaign Conference and will begin at 12:30PM EST. Victims will speak for approximately five minutes each and be open for questions following their statements.
Besides causing nine Salmonella deaths, the PCA peanut product outbreak sickened more than 714 people in more than 40 states. PritzkerOlsen was one of just three law firms representing victimsof the outbreak that were central to gaining a court-approved settlement that distributed $12 million of PCA insurance money to victims.
