US (IA): First lawsuit filed in sprout ilness outbreak
Heather Tuttle, 27, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Des Moines and is seeking to cover her medical expenses plus compensation for pain and suffering. She is one of 12 people from Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Wisconsin, who have recently been poisoned after consuming raw clover sprouts between 25th December and 15th January. 2 of the 12 have been hospitalized, but so far no deaths have been reported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that a preliminary investigation identified a common lot of clover seeds that were used to grow the tainted sprouts. The CDC said the seed supplier had warned sprouting facilities to stop using them.
Jimmy John's have so far declined to comment on the lawsuit.
According to the law suit there have been other sprout related illnesses linnked to Jimmy John's, affecting over 400 people since 2008. A spokesman for Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm that specializes in food safety cases, said Tuttle's lawsuit is the first from this specific outbreak but the firm is also representing other customers who were sickened.
Tuttle's lawsuit seeks to hold Jimmy John's liable for selling "unreasonably dangerous" food and negligence for failing to comply with health and safety laws.
Federal regulators warn against eating raw sprouts, which are one of the most frequent perpetrators of foodborne illness. Though they are often touted as a health food, sprouts grow in warm and humid conditions, which encourage bacterial growth.
Source: www.wbay.com
