ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – The St. Louis region is the center of a national E. Coli outbreak affecting 10 states, says Jory Lange, a food poisoning lawyer from Houston, Texas. He's representing the region's latest lawsuit out of St. Charles.
The FDA is reporting that 69 people in the 10 states have been infected with the same strain of E. coli (O157) based on genetic testing. Lange says that for every one person that provides a sample and receives a positive diagnosis, there are about 26 people who contracted E. coli in the same outbreak. He explains that means the number of people sickened in the national outbreak may be closer to 1,800.
Lange is representing Melanie Smith, a teacher in St. Charles County, who is suing a local caterer after being hospitalized for a complication from an E. Coli infection. The county health department says there are 10 cases and is still investigating the illnesses.
Lange said it’s too early to determine what monetary judgment the catering companies or their suppliers will face. They'll look for compensation to cover Smith's medical bills, loss of wages, and the experience she's suffered through with three hospitalizations.
The suit alleges Smith became ill after eating a salad prepared by a local caterer during parent-teacher conferences. The St. Charles County Health Department has not determined a source, unlike St. Louis County where a source has been identified.
“We know that the lettuce came from Taylor Farms, and Taylor Farms has been involved in at least five very large outbreaks,” said Lange. “Some with E. coli, some with salmonella, some with other food poisoning pathogens. We think the caterers should be doing more to look at the safety of their supply chain and the safety of the food that they're selling to so many people.”
The suit currently names the local caterer. Lange plans on suing the supplier once a source is determined.
“We suspect that we're going to find that Taylor Farms was involved because we've got people getting E. coli 157 right next door, one county over.”
Lange said by precedent, both are liable. He believes restaurants should research more into their suppliers' history as it relates to food-borne illnesses before buying and distributing food.
“The law holds caterers and restaurants strictly liable. If they're selling food for profit and people end up in the hospital or worse as a result of eating that food, the caterer is responsible just like whoever supplied them the lettuce is responsible.”
In the 115 cases of St. Louis County, Lange states all of them are linked to five events catered by Andre's Catering, which the health department has named. For the 10 cases in St Charles, he thinks two or three of the other cases are related to the same parent-teacher conferences.