Litigation in Lombard Subway Shigella Outbreak and More to Come
National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen has filed a lawsuit against Neel Subway, Inc., owner of the Subway restaurant located at 1009 East Roosevelt Road in Lombard, Illinois, on behalf of a resident of DuPage County, Illinois, who battled a severe Shigella infection after eating at the Lombard Subway.
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The law firm also represents several other people who contracted Shigella infections (shigellosis) after eating at the Lombard Subway, and is preparing to file additional lawsuits in the near future. The firm has been contacted by at least 50 people affected by the outbreak, which began in late February.
DuPage County Health Department officials have said more than 70 victims have been identified in the Lombard Subway Shigella outbreak..
According to the complaint filed March 18 in the Circuit Court of DuPage County, Patricia Larsen ate a veggie sandwich from the Lombard Subway on February 26. The next morning, she was overwhelmed by severe diarrhea, stomach cramps, chills, fever and other symptoms.
Her condition deteriorated over the next several days, prompting her to see a doctor on March 3. Results of a stool culture came back positive for Shigella sonnei.The lawsuit states that Ms. Larsen, who could not eat food for several days, missed nearly two weeks of work.
Certain food handlers at the restaurant tested positive for Shigella, according to the complaint. If a food handler infected with Shigella does not wash his or her hands adequately, contaminated human waste can get on food served to patrons, which will make them sick.
"Our client has suffered and will continue to suffer great pain due to an elementary collapse of food safety measures,'' said Fred Pritzker, founder and president of Pritzker Olsen. "It's sad that so many people were seriously sickened by a disgusting and preventable adulteration of food.''
The lawsuit alleges that Subway failed to adequately maintain or monitor the sanitary conditions of its food, drink, water, premises and employees. The restaurant also allegedly failed to ensure its workers were properly trained in safe food handling methods and to design or implement a sick-leave policy that would encourage or cause employees to not work while sick, according to the suit.
Pritzker Olsen is a nationally recognized food safety law firm that has represented victims in practically every major outbreak of food poisoning in the U.S.
It is currently litigating in Minnesota state court on behalf of 16 victims of another Subway outbreak linked to poor handwashing practices (it was Norovirus). Fred Pritzker is one of the only attorneys in the country to have taken a Shigella case to trial and won. The verdict was over $150,000.
Pritzker Olsen is continuing to accept cases from the Lombard Subway Shigella outbreak. To contact the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page.
