News Archive
Marler Clark has published 5,723 articles about foodborne illness outbreaks and lawsuits.
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
Who is Bill Marler and Marler Clark?
Working with Marler Clark Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, represents victims of foodborne illness nationwide. Here are answers to the questions people ask us most often. …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Cyclospora?
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that causes cyclosporiasis, a prolonged, relapsing intestinal illness that can last for weeks. It usually spreads through fresh imported produce, and because it is hardy, ordinary washing does not reliably remove it. …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Norovirus?
Norovirus is the most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States, responsible for roughly half of all outbreaks and about 20 million illnesses a year. It is extremely contagious and spreads rapidly from an infected food handler, causing sudden vomiting and diarrhea that usually last one to three days. …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Botulism?
Botulism is a rare but life-threatening illness caused by a nerve toxin from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, one of the most potent poisons known. It causes a descending paralysis that can stop breathing. Infant botulism differs from the foodborne form: a baby swallows spores that grow in the immature gut …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Campylobacter?
Campylobacter is one of the most common causes of bacterial diarrhea in the United States. Most infections come from raw or undercooked poultry, unpasteurized milk, or contaminated water. In a small share of cases it can trigger Guillain-Barré syndrome, a serious form of temporary paralysis. …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Shigella?
Shigella is a highly contagious bacterium that causes shigellosis—a painful, sometimes bloody diarrhea known as dysentery. It takes only a tiny number of organisms to make someone sick, so it spreads easily through food handled by an infected worker or through person-to-person contact. …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Hepatitis A?
Hepatitis A is a contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus and spread through the fecal-oral route—often by an infected food handler. It is entirely vaccine-preventable. Symptoms typically appear about 28 days after exposure (range 15 to 50 days) and include fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, and jaundice. …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Listeria?
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that causes listeriosis, one of the deadliest foodborne infections. It grows even at refrigerator temperatures and is especially dangerous to pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65, and people with weakened immune systems. Symptoms can appear days—or even weeks—after exposure. …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is Salmonella?
Salmonella is a group of bacteria behind one of the most common—and most deadly—foodborne infections in the United States, sickening more than a million people a year. Symptoms usually begin between 6 hours and 6 days after eating contaminated food and include diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps that last four …
July 05, 2026 • Firm News
What is E. coli?
E. coli O157:H7 is a Shiga toxin–producing strain of Escherichia coli that causes severe, sometimes life-threatening food poisoning. Most people develop painful stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea three to four days after exposure, and about 5 to 10 percent of victims—often young children—go on to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) …
June 30, 2026 • Podcasts & Appearances
Poisoned : A Vox Media Podcast
Bill Marler is interviewed on Vox media about his role in the Jack in the Box E.coli outbreak, as the lead attorney, representing the poisoned children. In January 1993, a lot of children started showing up at Seattle Children’s Hospital with the same unusual symptoms. Doctors didn’t know what was …
June 26, 2026 • Publications
Can AI Improve Food Safety?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to reshape how food companies detect contamination risks, monitor sanitation, and trace products through complex supply chains. But as predictive algorithms move into food safety systems, regulators, scientists, and industry leaders are confronting a difficult question: How much decision-making should companies trust to machines when …
June 22, 2026 • Press Releases
Lawsuit Accuses Nara Organics of Selling Whole-Milk Infant Formula that Carried Botulism Spores
Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, has filed suit on behalf of an infant who was hospitalized with botulism after consuming Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Powdered Infant Formula. The lawsuit alleges that Nara Organics, Inc. sold a whole-milk-based infant formula to American families at a time when the …
June 14, 2026 • Firm News
Poisoned - Author's Notes
Twenty years ago, today—on January 17, 1993—the State of Washington’s department of health announced that an E. coli outbreak was under way in the state and was likely linked to tainted, undercooked hamburgers served at several Jack in the Box restaurants. At the time, most Americans had never heard the …
June 13, 2026 • Press Releases
The Ten Largest Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in the U.S. Since 1993 — and Marler Clark’s Role in Them
I started doing this work in 1993, sitting in a hospital hallway at Seattle Children's while a nine-year-old girl named Brianne Kiner fought for her life. More than thirty years later, I have had a front-row seat to nearly every major foodborne illness outbreak in the United States. People ask …
June 08, 2026 • Press Releases
On World Food Safety Day, We're Turning Off the Lights
Today is World Food Safety Day. This year's theme, set by the World Health Organization, is "From burden to solutions — safe food everywhere," and it rests on a single sensible idea: count the harm unsafe food does, then use what you learn to prevent it. This month the WHO …
June 07, 2026 • Firm News
The Last Month in Food Poisoning: Supplements, Kofta, and Cheese — and the Quiet Erosion of Transparency
Every few weeks I take stock of what is actually landing on the desks of the families I represent, and the last month has been a reminder that the threats keep moving. They move from the obvious — undercooked ground beef — to the places most people never think to …
June 05, 2026 • Press Releases
We’re Turning Off the Smoke Detectors on America’s Food Supply
For more than thirty years I have represented the families on the other end of a foodborne outbreak — the parents of children on dialysis with hemolytic uremic syndrome, the survivors of a contaminated hamburger or a bag of spinach, the people left planning funerals. I built a career holding …
May 31, 2026 • Press Releases
Bill Marler and the Fight to Make Ground Beef Safer from E. coli
For more than thirty years, the story of E. coli in American ground beef has been inseparable from the career of one Seattle-area attorney, William “Bill” Marler. What began as a single lawsuit on behalf of a critically ill nine-year-old grew into a body of litigation, advocacy, and regulatory petitioning …
May 29, 2026 • Press Releases
Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Child Hospitalized with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in the Kebab Shop E.coli Outbreak
LOS ANGELES, CA — On May 29, 2026, attorneys William D. Marler of Marler Clark, Inc., PS (Seattle, Washington) and Trevor Quirk of Quirk Law Firm LLP (Ventura, California) filed a personal injury lawsuit in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Los Angeles, on behalf of …
May 25, 2026 • Firm News
What It Is Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC)
ETEC is a strain of the otherwise familiar gut bacterium E. coli, but with a dangerous twist. Unlike the harmless E. coli that naturally inhabits the human intestine, ETEC carries specialized genes — typically borne on transmissible plasmids — that allow it to colonize the lining of the small intestine …
May 24, 2026 • Firm News
Eight Major E. coli Outbreaks and Lawsuits since 1993 and Marler Clark's Role
Bill Marler & Marler Clark — An Overview Bill Marler began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993, when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the historic Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, in her landmark $15.6 million settlement. For more than 26 years, he has …
May 23, 2026 • Firm News
Marler Clark, the leading foodborne illness attorneys in the United States
Bill Marler's role in making ground beef safer is one of the most consequential stories in American food safety history. Here is a thorough account, anchored by quotes from others who have observed his work. Bill Marler's role has been threefold: aggressive plaintiff litigation that made contamination financially devastating for …
May 23, 2026 • Press Releases
A History of Ground Beef Outbreaks, Recalls and Lawsuits
The through-line is striking: for over 30 years, in virtually every significant ground beef E. coli outbreak in the United States, Bill Marler and Marler Clark have been at the table — usually filing the first lawsuit, representing the most seriously injured victims, and using the litigation itself as a …
May 22, 2026 • Press Releases
The Ground is Shifting Again: A Warning From Thirty Years in the E. coli Trenches
So, when the California Department of Public Health announced this week that nine people — six of them children, two of them now suffering from hemolytic uremic syndrome — have been sickened in an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to beef kofta at The Kebab Shop, I felt that old …
Get Help
Affected by an outbreak or recall?
The team at Marler Clark is here to answer all your questions. Find out if you’re eligible for a lawsuit, what questions to ask your doctor, and more.
Get a free consultationOutbreak Database
Looking for a comprehensive list of outbreaks?
The team at Marler Clark is here to answer all your questions. Find out if you’re eligible for a lawsuit, what questions to ask your doctor, and more.
View Outbreak Database