Food poisoning outbreaks fuel new wave of lawsuits across America

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates foodborne diseases cause about 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths a year. Complaints and confirmed food-poisoning cases are turning into lawsuits quickly, putting restaurants, processors and distributors in the legal crosshairs as outbreaks unfold.

The hardest issue in these cases is causation. Plaintiffs usually have to show what they ate, where they ate it, when symptoms started and whether health officials or lab work can tie the illness to a specific product or venue. That proof can fray when a meal included multiple ingredients, leftovers are gone, reporting is delayed or another virus, another meal or a preexisting condition offers an alternate explanation.

Public-health records often shape the legal fight before a complaint is filed. Outbreak investigations use epidemiologic, laboratory and traceback evidence to identify a source, and plaintiffs' lawyers lean on medical records, receipts, consumer complaints, social media posts and health department reports to connect a sick customer to a tainted batch or location. The CDC's 2019 major-pathogen estimate put foodborne illness at 9.9 million illnesses, 53,300 hospitalizations and 931 deaths.

The legal exposure can extend well beyond the kitchen that served the meal. Depending on where contamination occurred, growers, packers, transporters, suppliers and manufacturers can all be pulled into the case.

A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analysis found one foodborne outbreak could cost a restaurant millions of dollars through lost revenue, fines, lawsuits, legal fees, higher insurance premiums, inspection costs and staff retraining. On April 21, 2020, Chipotle Mexican Grill agreed to pay a $25 million fine and enter a deferred prosecution agreement over foodborne illness outbreaks.

Marler Clark has represented victims of foodborne illness litigation since 1993.