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Marler Clark calls on McDonald's to step up and pay customers' medical bills and lost wages

SEATTLE, Wash. — Bill Marler, food safety advocate and foodborne illness attorney since 1993, whose Seattle law firm, Marler Clark’s work was recently profiled in the Netflix documentary, “Poisoned, The Dirty Truth About Your Food," is calling on McDonald's to pay the medical bills and lost wages of the victims of the E. coli outbreak in the U.S. that has so far sickened 90, killing one and causing two to suffer acute kidney failure. Marler Clark represents victims in Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, Iowa, Georgia, Texas, and Washington (see the most recently filed complaint below).

According to the CDC, as of October 30, 2024, 90 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 13 states, including Wyoming (5), Wisconsin (1), Washington (1), Utah (7), Oregon (1), New Mexico (5), Nebraska (12), Montana (17), Missouri (8), Michigan (2), Kansas (1), Iowa (1), and Colorado (29).

Illnesses started on dates ranging from Sept 27 to October 16, 2024. Of 83 people with information available, 27 have been hospitalized, and two people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can cause kidney failure. One death has been reported from an older adult in Colorado. This person is not one of those who developed HUS.

“Unfortunately, those numbers will likely rise in the coming week,” Marler said. “The cost of treating victims of E. coli infections can run in the tens of thousands of dollars, or in severe cases, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These families need McDonald's to do more than promise to cooperate in the investigation into this outbreak; they need to know that McDonald's intends to fulfill their corporate responsibility by looking out for their customers."

Marler noted that during other outbreak situations over the past two decades, companies like Chi-Chi’s, Dole, Jack in the Box, Conagra, Odwalla, and Sheetz advanced medical costs for outbreak victims whose illnesses were traced to their food products.

William “Bill” Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak which was chronicled in the book “Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat” and in the recent Emmy Award-winning Netflix documentary, "Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food." Bill’s work has been profiled in The New Yorker, “A Bug in the System;” The Seattle Times, “30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, a Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;” The Washington Post, “He helped make burgers safer. Now he is fighting food poisoning again;” and several others.

Bill regularly speaks about the importance of preventing foodborne illness to industry and government throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, China, and Australia. He is a frequent commentator on food litigation and food safety to Marler Blog. Bill is also the publisher of Food Safety News.

For all media inquiries, please contact Julie Dueck at (206) 930-4220 or jdueck@marlerclark.com.

MONTANA Mc Ds Complaint Craft (pdf)
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