KENNESAW, GA — Health officials have traced an outbreak of Salmonella serotype berta to the Golden Corral restaurant on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw. So far, there have been nearly 20 confirmed cases and one death tied to the outbreak. Marler Clark, the Seattle law firm nationally known for successful representation of victims of foodborne illness, has been contacted by victims looking for some kind of recourse after having suffered Salmonella infections.
“People have contacted us because they have been through a horrible ordeal,” said William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. “Because health inspectors did not find the source after the first bout of illnesses, my strong suspicion is that an infected food handler could have caused the outbreak.”
Salmonella and other bacteria are spread through a fecal-oral route, which means that an infected food worker who did not wash his or her hands after using the restroom could have passed on the bacteria in food that was being prepared. Two outbreaks, one at Brook-Lea Country Club in Rochester, New York, last summer, and one at a Chili’s restaurant in Vernon Hills, Illinois, this summer, have been linked to infected food-workers. Both led to the illnesses of over 100 people.
“These infections are not pretty,” said Marler, whose firm is no stranger to the Georgia legal scene, having represented, with William Lanham, a prominent Atlanta attorney, most of the seriously injured victims of the Atlanta White Water Water Park E. coli outbreak in 1998. Over the last ten years, the attorneys at Marler Clark have represented over 1,000 Salmonella infection victims, and countless others hurt by unsafe food. These include 70 victims of the Brook-Lea outbreak, and 50 victims of the Chili’s outbreak.
“Victims suffer from intense abdominal cramping, bloody diarrhea, and nausea. Many have to be hospitalized. It’s only right for whoever is responsible for these people’s illnesses to step up and compensate them for what they went through,” Marler concluded.
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BACKGROUND: The Marler Clark attorneys have extensive experience representing victims of foodborne illness. The firm has successfully represented victims of Salmonella poisoning related to contaminated sprouts, cantaloupe, cereal, orange juice, and other foods. Marler Clark represented victims in claims against Golden Corral in relation to an E. coli outbreak in Nebraska in 1999. The firm represented victims against Sun Orchard after the company’s orange juice was tied to a Salmonella outbreak. Marler Clark also settled the claims of victims who ate Salmonella-tainted pastries at Black Forrest bakery in Clinton Township, Michigan, and represented 70 victims of Salmonella poisoning at a country club in Rochester, New York last summer. The firm has successfully represented over 1,000 victims of Salmonella poisoning in several other states.
For more information on Salmonella, visit www.about-salmonella.com or www.foodborneillness.com, sites sponsored by the Marler Clark attorneys.
More about the Golden Corral Salmonella outbreak can be found in the Case News area of this site.