SpaghettiOs
FORT PIERCE, Fla. – A case against Campbell Soup and Walmart is most likely heading back to a Florida federal court, according to recent court filings.
Defendants Campbell Soup Company, Campbell Soup Supply Company LLC, Walmart Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores East LP filed their 12-page removal notice to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Pierce Division, Aug. 19.
In June, a set of Okeechobee County parents had filed a lawsuit in the same federal court against the companies, alleging they should be held responsible for a can of contaminated SpaghettiOs that lead to their family’s illness.
In a June 4 order – issued two days after plaintiffs Mary Hubbard and Gregory Lovell, parents of the minor P.L., filed their lawsuit in the Florida federal court – Judge Aileen Cannon permitted the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint clarifying citizenship.
Cannon later dismissed the suit for failure to prosecute in a June 22 order.
The plaintiffs returned to the Circuit Court of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Okeechobee County to file their lawsuit on June 4.
Just like their original June 2 federal filing, Hubbard and Lovell argue in their state court filing that the defendants owed a duty of reasonable care to design, manufacture, distribute, supply, inspect, test, and sell food products that were “safe, free from contamination, and fit for human consumption.”
In their 12-page removal notice, the defendant companies argue removal to the federal court is proper because complete diversity exists between the plaintiffs, as they reside in Florida, and the defendants, as they are based in Delaware, New Jersey, and Arkansas.
In addition, the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, they claim.
Complete diversity “requires that all persons on one side of the controversy be citizens of different states than all persons on the other side.”
In federal court, the “amount in controversy” refers to the monetary value of a plaintiff’s claim. This must exceed $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, for diversity jurisdiction.
“Here, although Defendants deny that Plaintiffs are entitled to any monetary relief, Plaintiffs’ allegations, if true and cognizable under Florida law, which Defendants deny, would likely result in an amount in controversy that exceeds the Court’s jurisdictional minimum,” the removal notice states.
In June 2024, Hubbard purchased SpaghettiOs from a Walmart in Okeechobee, Florida. On June 6, 2024, she prepared and served the canned pasta food to herself and her child, P.L.
After they had already consumed portions of the SpaghettiOs, Hubbard claims she discovered “worms or parasites actively moving within the food.” She proceeded to document the contamination in multiple videos.
“As a direct and proximate result of consuming the contaminated Campbell’s SpaghettiOs, Plaintiff, Hubbard, suffered serious and permanent injuries and damages including, but not limited to: a parasitic infection; gastrointestinal illness; sepsis; hepatic injury and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; iron deficiency anemia requiring intravenous iron infusion therapy; and chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” the June complaint stated, noting that Hubbard sought and continues to seek medical care for the injuries.
Her son, P.L., also suffered “serious injuries and damages,” the filing alleged.
They include, but are not limited to: abdominal pain; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; a parasitic infection requiring treatment with Albendazole; and psychological injuries including “adjustment disorder with mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct.”
“Defendants knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known, that a failure to properly manufacture, process, inspect, and distribute their canned food products could result in contamination of those products with parasites and/or other harmful substances, causing serious injury to consumers,” the plaintiffs’ original complaint stated.
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Tallahassee is representing the defendants in the lawsuit.
Florin Gray in Lutz, Florida, is representing the family.
