Nov. 5, 2012
Several wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits have been filed on behalf of those sickened and/or killed by a deadly outbreak of Listeria last summer. A third-party food inspector has been named as a defendant in the cases, along with the Colorado farm that grew the tainted melons.
The Pacific Coast Business Times reports that a subcontractor for the company signed off on the farm’s safety inspection just weeks before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated the facility for contamination.
The lawsuits go on to say that the subcontractor’s inspections were not conducted with “reasonable care” and therefore failed to protect consumer well-being. Experts believe the inspection company has been named as a defendant in many of the Colorado Defective Product cases as a fallback in the event the Colorado farm, which recently filed for bankruptcy, is unable to pay damages. The Listeria outbreak claimed 30 lives and sickened 146 people.
Representatives of the inspection company have asked the lawsuits against them be dismissed on the grounds it was not the inspector’s job to make sure contaminated food was not sold and that any breach of duty cannot be established.
The Colorado Personal Injury Lawyers with McDivitt Law Firm understand the complexities of defective product cases and are here to answer any questions you may have if you have been sickened after consuming a contaminated product.
