Food litigator William Marler has reportedly filed an amended complaint on behalf of a Vermont couple whose son was allegedly sickened and hospitalized following ingestion of a product containing Salmonella-tainted peanut butter. Meunier v. Peanut Corp. of Am., No. 09-12 (M.D. Ga., first amended complaint filed January 28, 2009). The plaintiffs are now seeking punitive damages for “willful concealment of known defects.” The amendment follows the release of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection report showing that the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) shipped products that tested positive for Salmonella after the company had the products retested and received negative test results. Marler was quoted as saying, “In 15 years of litigating food cases, this is one of the worst examples of corporate irresponsibility I have ever seen. Not only does the plant appear to have atrocious practices, but the product that seems to have repeatedly tested positive for Salmonella was shipped…
Category Archives 6th Circuit
Strict liability and breach of warranty claims filed in an Ohio state court in July 2008 after an E. coli outbreak linked to ground beef sold by Nebraska Beef sickened at least 19 in that state have been removed to federal court. Schlagel v. Nebraska Beef, Ltd., No. 08-01091 (S.D. Ohio, removed November 17, 2008). The named plaintiff of this putative class action is a 4-year-old girl, who allegedly “suffered serious physical and emotional injuries.” The proposed class would include “All Ohio claimants who have suffered personal injury caused by Nebraska Beef’s contaminated E. Coli 0157:H7 meat.” The contamination led to the recall of more than 5 million pounds of meat. The company has reportedly denied the allegations and challenges the suitability of the case for class treatment. See Product Liability Law 360, November 18, 2008.
A federal court in Ohio has dismissed the putative class action claims filed by a woman who alleged that Kroger Co. deceived the public by selling its beef as aged, when it was actually selling beef packaged and shipped almost immediately after slaughter. St. Clair v. Kroger Co., No. 7-03798 (N.D. Ohio, decided October 14, 2008). The case was originally filed in state court and removed on defendant’s motion under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA). Because the plaintiff failed to allege that Kroger had prior notice that its conduct was “deceptive or unconscionable,” the court was compelled under Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act (CSPA) to dismiss the class claims. Prior notice, under the law, must be “in the form of a rule adopted by the state Attorney General or a judicial decision made publicly available,” neither of which was referred to in the complaint So ruling, the…
