The first lawsuit was filed on October 5, 2018, in Arizona Superior Court against JBS Tolleson Inc., on behalf of Dana Raab of Florence, Kentucky who was diagnosed with Salmonella after consuming ground beef produced by the company. Ms. Raab and four other individuals were represented by Marler Clark, the food safety law firm, and O’Steen & Harrison, PLC, a top-rated Arizona law firm. The file number was CV 2018-012743.
Marler Clark, the Salmonella lawyers successfully resolved and settled all cases by the end of 2019.
Ms. Raab purchased ground beef from Sam’s Club on September 9, 2018. Three days later, she made meatloaf with a portion of the ground beef and froze the remaining product. On September 13, she began experiencing symptoms of severe diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. For the next two days, she was not able to keep any food down and eventually sought medical attention.
On September 15, Ms. Raab sought emergency medical treatment and was admitted to the hospital for five days. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with severe dehydration, a blocked bile duct, and a stool culture tested positive for Salmonella Newport. Over time Ms. Raab did recover from her Salmonella-related symptoms.
On October 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), announced a recall of 6,912,875 pounds of JBS Tolleson raw beef products possibly contaminated with Salmonella Newport. At that time, 57 people had been sickened with Salmonella Newport across 16 states.
“Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella has been a growing concern in the US over the last decade,” said Bill Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark, in Seattle. “USDA/FSIS must consider calling it what it is – an adulterant – and banning products that are in fact contaminated with it,” added Marler.