Peanut Butter Salmonella Cases Settled
A $12 million Salmonella lawsuit settlement for victims of the massive peanut product outbreak that sickened more than 700 people and killed nine has been approved by a federal judge in Lynchburg, Virginia.
PritzkerOlsen, P.A., represented the families of more people killed in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) outbreak than any other law firm in the United States.The money provided by the bankrupt company's insurer, Hartford Casualty Insurance Co., will be distributed based on the extent of victims' illnesses. Additional settlement funds are being paid by Kellogg Co., which unknowingly used contaminated peanut butter supplied by PCA in some of its products.
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The ruling from U.S. District Judge Norman Moon will pay more than 120 wrongful death and personal injury claims related to the outbreak, which occurred in late 2008 and 2009.
Fred Pritzker, founder and president of PritzkerOlsen, represented the families of three women who died. Two of the victims were from Minnesota and the third was from Ohio. Members of all three families went on to speak out passionately on the national stage for change in America's food safety system.
As part of PritzkerOlsen's investigation into the PCA Salmonella peanut outbreak, Pritzker traveled to the Blakely, Georgia, PCA plant implicated in the outbreak and personally inspected it. What he found was appalling: filthy equipment, vermin and gaps in walls and the ceiling that allowed in any number of rodents, insects and other disease carrying animals.
Pritzker has said he sees similarities between the PCA outbreak and the ongoing Salmonella egg investigation of two Iowa egg producers -- Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration have found egregious food safety violations at both establishments. Federal authorities have associated more than 1,400 illnesses in multiple states with contaminated eggs from the companies.
In the Salmonella Enteritidis egg outbreak, PritzkerOlsen already has filed one egg lawsuit and represents a growing number of other victims. The firm is continuing to accept cases at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or contact an egg recall lawyer at the firm by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page.
