Taco Bell in Indianapolis
PITTSBURGH – The first Pennsylvania lawsuit filed in federal court over this summer’s “explosive diarrhea” outbreak targets Taco Bell and Taylor Farms California.
Heather Kebert, of Mercer County, filed suit last week in Pittsburgh against the two companies over iceberg lettuce tainted with the Cyclospora parasite, which has caused almost 16,000 cases of cyclosporiasis in 47 states since May. Two people have died, and another 828 have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Kebert bought an avocado ranch chicken stacker from a Taco Bell in Meadville on July 7 that contained lettuce distributed by Taylor Farms. Three days later, symptoms began, and five days later she was in the emergency room at UPMC Northwest Hospital.
Stool samples confirmed cyclosporiasis, she says, after her discharge from the hospital.
“Accordingly, Ms. Kebert was injured as a result of purchasing the Product, including, among other things, she purchased and paid for a product that did not conform to what was promised as promoted, marketed, advertised, packaged, and labeled by Defendants; Ms. Kebert was deprived of the benefit of her bargain; Ms. Kebert spent money on a Product that did not have any value or had less value than warranted; and Ms. Kebert would not have purchased and consumed had she known the truth about the Product,” the suit says.
Close to 20 federal lawsuits, some on behalf of multiple plaintiffs, have been filed against Taylor Farms and are in the consolidation process. Attorneys have asked that they be put into a multi-district litigation proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, though other lawyers have argued Michigan is the proper venue. Calling it the “epicenter of the cyclosporiasis outbreak,” The Miller Law Firm and Lipton Law argued on Aug. 20 the cases should be grouped in the state’s Eastern District.
More than 13,900 Michigan residents have been made sick, and both deaths occurred in the state. Close to 90% of all plaintiffs so far are from the state.
“The number of infections in Michigan is not coincidental,” the brief says. “It results directly from the source and spread of the outbreak, the distribution routes for the allegedly contaminated lettuce, and the particular Taco Bell restaurants that received and sold the lettuce.”
Other states where lawsuits have been filed include Ohio and Kentucky, but the most relevant evidence – from hospitals, laboratories, health officials and Taco Bell franchisees – is in Michigan, despite Taylor Farms’ California home, the brief adds.
“(T)he location of the corporate defendants’ headquarters is less relevant in this case than in others, given that the contaminated lettuce was grown and distributed from Taylor Farms’ central Mexico entity, Taylor Farms de Mexico, and distributed throughout the country and mostly to Michigan,” it says.
