Lawsuit Alleges Dole Salad Caused Listeria Meningitis

A father has filed a lawsuit alleging that eating Dole Food Co.’s ready-to-eat salad greens caused his son to develop Listeria meningitis, leaving the son with long-term impairment of motor, cognitive and communication skills. Robinson v. Dole Food Co., No. 17-13644 (E.D. Mich., filed November 8, 2017). The complaint alleges that the son was served packaged salads at his group-care facility and developed meningitis, which the Centers for Disease Control and the Michigan Department of Community Health apparently concluded was caused by the same strain of Listeria that infected 30 people in a 2015-2016 outbreak linked to Dole salad greens.

The complaint further alleges that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted an inspection of Dole’s Springfield, Illinois, facility where the bagged salads were produced and concluded that the facility violated a number of food-safety rules, including failing to test for Listeria on food contact surfaces and failing to notify FDA of a persistent Listeria problem at the facility. Claiming breach of implied warranty of merchantability and fitness, negligence and negligence per se, the father seeks general, special, incidental and consequential damages.