July 21, 2009
A law firm out of Seattle, Marler Clark, and a law firm out of Illinois have filed a lawsuit on behalf of those who had to get shots after hepatitis A exposure, it says, because of the Milan McDonalds. They're asking for compensation for those who had to wait in line at a clinic and miss work to get treatment.
Cody Patterson does not have hepatitis A. He is listed as the plaintiff on court papers, but he is serving as the spokesperson for everyone who received a vaccination, or became sick after eating at the milan McDonald's. "I wanted to know what hepatitis a was and I started searching online and this website came up and there was a blog from the attorney's." That blog was from Seattle based law-firm, Marler Clark. the website gave detailed information about hepatitis A. "He went in depth, the symptoms, what to look for."
Patterson and his wife contacted the firm to see what they could do. They found out the attorney's would represent them and everyone else who may have been exposed to the virus. "It's not about the money, it's about getting the facts, making sure this doesn't happen again, especially locally."
He wants to know is why the public wasn't notified a McDonald's employee had hepatitis a back in June. "The lady saying I have hep a to her managers at McDonald's or the county coming up and saying okay we need to close you guys down, clean the place up, so many people dropped the ball on it. It's just unbelievable, it upsets me, I'm angry."
The Milan man and his family received the vaccinations. But they eat at the restaurant frequently, so now, he's just waiting to see if they'll get sick. "It's unacceptable it didn't get reported. It's unacceptable it took a month after the fact for people to get their shots and for McDonald's to shut down."
Since this is a class action law suit the law firm won't receive any money unless a settlement is reached or a judge award the victims compensation.
We called McDonald's about the lawsuit and got this statement from corporate. "Regarding this matter, the Rock Island County Health Department has repeatedly stated that they have not confirmed the source of the outbreak. When our franchisee was notified about this matter by the Rock Island County Health Department on July 13th, he took immediate action to address their concerns. Because this is a pending legal matter, it would be inappropriate to further comment or speculate."