Personal Injury Law

Grocery Manufacturers Association Litigation Conference April 7 and 8, 2010 - Washington DC

Posted on March 20, 2010
Looking forward to speaking at the Grocery Manufacturers Association Litigation Conference on April 7 and 8, 2010 in Washington DC.

I read Meating Place Daily - USDA FSIS to mandate Test and Hold, Traceback and Non-intact Meat Labeling - Now that is a Mouthful - Safer Too!

Posted on March 19, 2010
According to Meating Place: USDA plans to propose rules that would mandate test-and-hold practices at meat plants as well as labels alerting consumers when they are buying non-intact meat subjected to mechanical tenderization, according to Deputy Assistant Administrator for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service Daniel Engeljohn...

Raw Milk Cow, Goat and Sheep Share Expanded in Idaho - Retail Raw Milk Sales Not Allowed

Posted on March 19, 2010
The House Agricultural Affairs Committee approved a proposal Thursday that would make it clear that anyone owning a cow, goat, or sheep, or sharing ownership of those animals could legally drink or consume its raw milk. Selling raw milk would still be illegal, but dairies could keep seven cows or 15 goats or sheep in an animal sharing agreement...

Pasteurized Milk Outbreaks do happen despite what the Food and Drug Administration and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say

Posted on March 19, 2010
Awhile ago I posted, "Raw Milk Outbreaks do happen despite what the Weston A. Price Foundation and The Complete Patient (a.k.a. David Gumpert) say," and rightly got slapped for being a bit too harsh.  I tend to be remembered, and reviled, by sellers and consumers of raw milk (affectionately, a...

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No, This is Not a Raw Milk Dairy Blog - It just seems like it lately. Forest Grove Dairy Linked to Campylobacter Illnesses in Michigan

Posted on March 19, 2010
Campylobacter Outbreak in Michigan Linked to Consumption of Raw Milk Products The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) is issuing a public health alert regarding illness from Campylobacter infections among people who have reported consuming raw milk products obtained from the Family Farms Cooperative in Vandalia, Michigan...

FDA Seeks Permanent Injunction Against Sprout Grower

Posted on March 18, 2010
The Department of Justice, in an action initiated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is seeking a permanent injunction against A Chau Sprouting Co., a sprout grower in Gretna, La., company owner and manager Quang 'Mike' Trinh, and Hue Nguyen, the company production manager...

51 of 78 Lombard Subway Shigella Customers Contact Marler Clark

Posted on March 18, 2010
As DuPage County Health Department spokesman David Hass official announced that a total of 78 people had fallen ill due to a Shigella outbreak at a Subway sandwich shop in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, our phones have been ringing with the calls of 51 of those former customers of Subway...

Strict Product Liability in Food - Food Manufacturers are a lot like the Black Knight

Posted on March 18, 2010
Under the new rule of strict liability, to hold a food manufacturer liable, a person injured while using a food product need only show that: (1) the food product was defective; (2) it was used as intended; and (3) the defect caused the injury. The care used in the manufacture of the food product is irrelevant to the determination of liability...

Shigella Illnesses Rise to 78 and Subway Remains Shuttered

Posted on March 17, 2010
Alan J. Liddle of Nation's Restaurant News reports this afternoon that the number of people with confirmed cases of shigella illness associated with a franchised Subway restaurant here has climbed to 78, with 11 of those individuals requiring hospitalization with one still hospitalized...

On Farm Raw Milk Sales to Happen in Wisconsin? Only if Warnings, Registration, Inspection and Testing are Required

Posted on March 17, 2010
The Senate Agriculture Committee scrapped an earlier version of the Wisconsin Raw Milk Bill (see earlier post) and has instituted what I see as an appropriate compromise (if I do not say so myself) that includes warnings, registration, inspection and testing...

Wisconsin Raw Milk Bill - Assembly Bill 628 - Should Fail Too

Posted on March 16, 2010
This Assembly Bill - 628 - is the same as Senate Bill 434.  It should fail for the same reasons as I posted below.  Here is the full Assembly Bill:

Wisconsin Raw Milk Bill - Senate Bill 434 - Should Fail

Posted on March 16, 2010
Although I agree that consumers should be able to buy raw milk from a well-regulated, inspected farm - "know your farmer" - like what is done in California and Washington presently.  However, I believe that the law needs a warning that is much more stringent than the law now envisions...

Third Subway Shigella Suit Filed - 35 more to go!

Posted on March 16, 2010
The Chicago-area Subway that has been linked to over 50 Shigella illness has been hit once again by a customer's lawsuit.  

E. coli victim Linda Rivera, like Lazarus, rises from the dead

Posted on March 15, 2010
Linda Rivera update from her brother-in-law: Linda will be discharged from her 'home' of Desert Springs Hospital for the past year and to an unknown rehabilitation center. Her tracheostomy opening was closed and she is breathing room air on her own without difficultly, no supplemental oxygen...

Food Poisoning Victims Speak to Congress about Food Safety Legislation

Posted on March 14, 2010
Victims of foodborne illness gathered in the nation's capital last week to speak to Senators about the need to move food safety legislation forward. Senate bill 510 (S510, the Food Safety Modernization Act) passed unanimously out of committee in November, but has yet to come to the floor of the Senate for a vote...

Whole Foods to Stop Raw Milk Sales in Several States

Posted on March 13, 2010
My friend David Gumpert over at The Complete Patient broke the news tonight that Whole Foods will be stopping raw milk sales in its stores in several states - "Another Body Blow to Food Choice As Whole Foods Discontinues Raw Milk Sales in At Least Four States...

WSU Professor Tom Besser gets $1,000,000 to protect livestock - and people - from E. coli O157:H7.

Posted on March 12, 2010
        Go Cougs.

Update on Daniele Black Pepper Salmonella Montevideo and Senftenberg Outbreak

Posted on March 12, 2010
249 individuals infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Montevideo, which displays either of two closely related pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, have been reported from 44 states and District of Columbia since July 1, 2009. The number of ill persons identified in each state with this strain is as follows: AK (1), AL (2), AZ (7), CA (31), CO (5), CT (5), DC (1), DE (3), FL (3), GA (3), IA (1), ID (4), IL (22), IN (4), KS (5), LA (1), MA (14), MD (1), ME (1), MI (4), MN (6), MO (2), MS (1), NC (11), ND (1), NE (3), NH (2), NJ (9), NM (2), NY (18), OH (9), OK (1), OR (9), PA (7), RI (2), SC (1), SD (3), TN (5), TX (7), UT (9), VA (1), WA (18), WI (1), WV (1), and WY (2)...

Lombard Subway Sickens 50 with Shigella

Posted on March 12, 2010
According to Chicago press reports, the number of people sickened by the Shigella outbreak traced to a Lombard sandwich shop is now at 50, DuPage County Health Department spokesman David Hass said this afternoon. Thursday's count was 49.  Hass added that all 10 people who were hospitalized for the illness have been discharged...

Food Safety Attorney Marler Calls for Criminal Prosecution of Manufacturers Who Knowingly Sell Contaminated Food

Posted on March 11, 2010
From a Press Release I sent out this morning: Food Safety attorney William Marler is calling for enforcement of a federal law that allows criminal sanctions to be imposed against food manufacturers that can prevent harmful food products from being distributed, but do not do so...

Food Safety News App is up on IPhone App Store

Posted on March 11, 2010

Food Safety News - Safe Cooking Temperature Magnets

Posted on March 11, 2010
Food Safety News - Safe Cooking Temperatures Refrigerator Magnets to be available at upcoming CDC/USDA/FDA Conference.  I thought these would be good to help educate consumers and retail outlets on safe cooking.  Come to the conference and get a few...

Did Basic Food Flavors knowingly ship Salmonella-tainted hydrolyzed vegetable protein?

Posted on March 09, 2010
According to the Wall Street Journal a few moments ago, Basic Food Flavors Inc., the Las Vegas company at the center of a recall of more than 100 food products containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP, continued to make and distribute food ingredients for about a month after it learned the bacteria salmonella was present at its processing facility...

Shigella Lawsuit Filed Against Lombard Subway - Health Department Reports 21 Sickened

Posted on March 09, 2010
We filed a lawsuit today against a Lombard Illinois Subway restaurant for a Wheaton couple on behalf of their child who became sick after eating at the restaurant on February 26th.  Ron and Sarah Bowers purchased a meal for their child, JB, which was contaminated with Shigella sonnei, a potentially lethal fecal bacteria...

Coming to an IPhone App soon - Food Safety News

Posted on March 09, 2010
Well Food Safety News IPhone Application has been submitted.  Hopefully, it will be approved and up and running in the next few days - for free.

Rehaping the Role of the Personal Injury in Society and the Law

Posted on March 08, 2010
I think lawyers like me are about as popular and well thought of as congress members and AIG executives.  Just in the last few days I have felt the sting of prejudice when asked to financially support a couple of non-profit groups and projects, but to do so without being directly involved because others would not be if my involvement was known...

I love the smell of a Subway Shigella Lawsuit in the morning!

Posted on March 08, 2010
Sometimes lawsuits are a bit like a war, or perhaps more a long battle anyway. Like a battle or a war, the damages to each side in litigation are real – the injuries to the victims, the costs to the defendant. The decision when to file suit (when to go to war or battle) are difficult to make...

Rehaping the Role of the Personal Injury Lawyer in Society and the Law

Posted on March 08, 2010
I think lawyers like me are about as popular and well thought of as congress members and AIG executives.  Just in the last few days I have felt the sting of prejudice when asked to financially support a couple of non-profit groups and projects, but to do so without being directly involved because others would not be if my involvement was known...

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Recall - 94 Products now on FDA List

Posted on March 07, 2010
The FDA has updated its expanding recall list of various products containing Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein.  The list includes: Bouillon Products - Herbox Dip and Dip Mix Products - Concord Foods, De la Casa, Delicioso, Follow Your Heart, Fresh Food, Concepts, Great Value, Johnny's Fine Foods, McCormick, Oak Lake Farms, Reser's, Rojo's, T...

No charges to be filed against unlicensed caterer, Aggie Jennings, who sickened 180 with Salmonella Montevideo in South Dakota

Posted on March 07, 2010
Brian Gehring of the Bismarck Tribune confirmed today that the South Dakota Health Department says it will not seek charges against a rural Washburn woman for operating an unlicensed catering business linked to sickening 180 people last summer. Aggie Jennings of rural McLean County catered three events (2 weddings, 1 reunion) in mid-June that led to three separate outbreaks of Salmonella Montevideo...

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