Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cindy Hadish
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - A lawsuit claiming a 9-year-old Cedar Falls girl became ill after eating at a Taco John's restaurant is expected to be filed today in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.
Bill Marler, partner in the Seattle-based Marler Clark Law Firm, said last night that an attorney was on his way to Cedar Rapids to file the suit in connection with Iowa's E. coli outbreak.
The lawsuit, a copy of which was sent to The Gazette, claims Taco John's was negligent for serving food unfit for human consumption.
According to the complaint:
Autumn Saul, the daughter of Ryan and Angela Saul of Cedar Falls, became sick after eating two soft-shell tacos at the Cedar Falls Taco John's on Nov. 29; On Dec. 2, she suffered diarrhea and stomach cramps.
She was taken to a hospital emergency room Dec. 7; She was transferred to University Hospitals in Iowa City with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition marked by kidney failure; Decreasing blood counts necessitated a blood transfusion Dec. 13.
Marler said Autumn remains at University Hospitals.
The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount for her pain and suffering; medical expenses; physical and emotional harm and loss of enjoyment of life; and court costs and attorney's fees.
Marler has handled about 3,000 food-related cases since an E. coli outbreak at Jack-in-the-Box in 1993, he said, including representing 93 victims of this fall's E. coli outbreaks linked to contaminated spinach.