Two consumers have filed a lawsuit alleging that they contracted Salmonella from deli chicken salad they purchased at Fareway Stores Inc. Porter v. Fareway Stores Inc., No. 18-0050 (S.D. Iowa, filed February 20, 2018). The plaintiffs, a married couple, allege that the contaminated chicken salad sent them to an emergency room—with the wife requiring further hospitalization—and that they both tested positive for Salmonella. The complaint also states that Fareway chicken salad has been linked to “at least 28 confirmed and 66 probable cases of Salmonella” in Iowa by the state’s Department of Health, with reports of possible related illnesses in Nebraska and Minnesota. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert about the Iowa outbreak in February 2018. Alleging strict product liability, negligence and breach of warranty, the plaintiffs seek damages and attorney’s fees.
Tag Archives Iowa
President Donald Trump has commuted the 27-year sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, a former kosher meatpacking plant executive convicted of 86 counts of federal bank fraud and money laundering. After Rubashkin was sentenced in 2009, politicians, law enforcement officials and legal experts argued that his case was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct, but the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction and sentencing in 2011. Rubashkin and his family members were initially accused of a range of charges, including conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for profit and child labor law violations.
An Iowa federal jury has found William Aossey , the former owner of Midamar Corp., guilty of making false export statements along with conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from the company’s misrepresenta- tion of the source of food exported to Malaysia and Indonesia. U.S. v. Aossey, No. 14-0116 (N.D. Iowa, jury verdict entered July 13, 2015). Aossey was indicted over claims that Midamar bought products from a slaughterhouse not certified to export meat to Indonesia and Malaysia, then removed the facility’s federal establishment number with nail-polish remover and replaced it with the number of a certified facility. Additional charges alleging that the company’s products do not meet halal standards are pending against Aossey’s sons. Issue 572
Society Insurance has filed a lawsuit in Iowa federal court seeking a declaration that its policy does not require it to defend or indemnify Templeton Rye Spirits in a putative consumer class action alleging that the whiskey distiller falsely represented its products as made from a Prohibition-era recipe. Soc’y Ins. v. Templeton Rye Spirits LLC, No. 15-0005 (S.D. Iowa, filed January 5, 2015). The underlying lawsuit asserts that Templeton claims its whiskey is made in a “small batch” from a Prohibition-era recipe that was a favorite of Al Capone’s, but that the product is actually distilled at an MGP Ingredients, Inc. factory in accordance with a stock MGP recipe. Society seeks a judicial declaration that Templeton’s insurance policy, which Society argues covers only damages based on bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury, will not require Society to indemnify a settlement or judgment against Templeton. The insurance company argues…
Philip Payne, the former operations manager of Halal-food company Midamar Corp., has pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to make and deliver false certificates and writings stemming from Midamar’s export of beef to Indonesia and Malaysia purportedly prepared in accordance with Islamic law. U.S. v. Payne, No. 14-cr-0143 (N.D. Iowa, request for approval filed January 7, 2015). In his plea agreement, Payne admitted that Midamar attempted to meet the rise in Halal meat demand by supplying kosher beef slaughtered by rabbis without any oversight from a Muslim slaughterman. Several executives at Midamar have been charged with making false statements on export certificates, committing wire fraud and laundering money, allegations to which founder William B. Aossey Jr. and two of his sons pled not guilty in December 2014. A trial on those charges is set for February 17, 2015. Issue 550
A jury in an Iowa federal court has reportedly determined that International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. (IFF) was not liable for the lung condition a man allegedly developed from microwaving popcorn containing diacetyl, a butter flavoring ingredient used in the product. Stults v. Int’l Flavors & Fragrances Inc., No. 11-4077 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Iowa, verdict entered August 19, 2014). The plaintiff claimed that the company had breached the implied warranty of fitness for its butter flavoring, which had a foreseeable use in microwave popcorn packages. IFF was the only remaining defendant during the seven-day trial out of some half-dozen companies originally sued for $27 million in compensatory damages. See Law360, August 20, 2014. Issue 535
As anticipated, Quality Egg LLC and its former owners, Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son Peter, have entered guilty pleas to charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Additional information about the plea agreement appears in Issue 524 of this Update. They admitted that the company’s shell eggs, shipped to buyers in states throughout the country, contained Salmonella in 2010. As part of the plea agreement, the company reportedly agreed to pay a $6.8 million fine. The DeCosters, who will remain free on bail pending sentencing, face a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison or five years’ probation. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. See USA Today, June 3, 2014. Issue 525
Federal prosecutors have reportedly filed criminal charges against Iowa-based Quality Egg LLC and two former company executives—Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son Peter—over a 2010 Salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands across the country and resulted in the recall of some 550 million eggs. United States v. Quality Egg, LLC, No. 14-cr-3024 (N.D. Iowa, filed May 21, 2014). The charging document, which brings two felony counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce against the company and related misdemeanor charges against the DeCosters, alleges that the company sold tainted eggs from early 2010 until the August recall. According to news sources, the DeCosters are expected to enter guilty pleas on June 3, 2014, as part of a plea agreement that ends the four-year investigation. The charging document alleges that the company sold products with labels making “the eggs appear to be not as old as they actually were” from 2006 to 2010,…
The manager of an Iowa egg farm that recalled 550 million eggs in a 2010 Salmonella outbreak that may have sickened 2,000 people has reportedly entered a guilty plea to a charge of conspiring to bribe a public official to allow the sale of eggs that failed to meet federal standards. United States v. Wasmund, No. 12-3041 (N.D. Iowa, plea entered September 12, 2012). According to Tony Wasmund’s attorney, the former manager, who oversaw some of the enterprises owned by Jack DeCoster, is cooperating with government authorities. The indictment charged Wasmund with authorizing the use of $300 in petty cash to be used by a colleague to bribe a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector assigned to DeCoster’s Wright County egg farm. The bribe was purportedly intended to persuade the inspector to approve the sale of shell eggs that had been withheld for falling short of applicable USDA standards. Prosecutors apparently refused…
A federal court in Iowa has dismissed claims filed by a legal defense fund and a number of raw-milk producers challenging Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations prohibiting the shipment of raw milk for human consumption across state lines. Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund v. Sebelius, No. 10-4018 (N.D. Iowa, decided March 30, 2012). According to the court, none of the plaintiffs alleged that “the FDA has applied or sought to apply the challenged regulations to them, and Wagoner’s contentions are merely conclusory and based on speculation.” Raw milk producer Eric Wagoner had apparently alleged that a Georgia Department of Agriculture official “ordered an embargo of raw milk that he had transported from South Carolina, where it is legal to buy raw milk, to Georgia, where it is not” and claimed that “the embargo was ordered at the direction of the FDA.” There was no evidence of FDA involvement, and because…
