Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
A Listeria monocytogenes outbreak caused the recall of over 200,000 pounds of Boar’s Head deli meat products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Services announced Friday.
The recalled products include ready-to-eat liverwurst produced between June 11 and July 17. The company is also recalling other deli meats that were a part of the same assembly line that could have been exposed to the outbreak.
The recall was prompted by a Listeria monocytogenes infection investigation by the Maryland Department of Health and the Baltimore City Health Department. The Centers for Disease Control has identified 34 cases of Listeria from deli meat across 13 states. At least two people died from exposure as of last week and there have been approximately 33 hospitalizations.
Listeria monocytogenes is a serious infection from food contamination that kills about 260 people in the United States every year. The CDC estimates that about 1,600 people are infected annually. People with weakened immune systems, pregnant women and their newborns, and people 65 years and older are most vulnerable to sickness from exposure to the bacterium. Symptoms of those with invasive illness, meaning that the bacteria have spread past the intestines, include fever, flu-like symptoms, a stiff neck, seizures, headaches, and or a loss of balance. For those exposed to the bacterium, symptoms can begin within two weeks of eating the contaminated food.
The FSIS urges anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to seek the attention of a medical provider right away. Consumers who believe they have purchased contaminated deli meat are encouraged to throw it out or return it to the store where they made the purchase. Consumers should also thoroughly clean their refrigerators to eliminate potential risks associated with cross-contamination.
For a full list of products that were recalled, please visit FSIS.gov.
Past Cases
As consumers, you trust that the products you buy are safe to bring into your home, but that is not always the case. In its 48 years of representing clients in places like Orlando, Key West, and Miami, Leesfield & Partners has seen countless times how corporations have failed their trusting consumers.
Some cases handled by the law firm have involved defective furniture products, children’s toys, firearms, medical devices, and defective vehicles, all with devastating consequences.
To prove a defective products case, attorneys may build their client’s claims on three branches of personal injury. These include strict liability, breach of warranty, and or negligence.
A strict liability offense refers to proving a defect in the product that the manufacturer knew or should have known about that caused injury to the client. Any damages incurred as a result of this defect are solely the responsibility of the manufacturer in those cases. These defects can be in the design, marketing and or manufacturing of the product in question.
One example of this can be found in a verdict of almost $20 million secured for a man whose Honda motorcycle spun out of control, causing him to crash and injure his spinal cord. The 27-year-old became a high-level quadriplegic following the incident. The cause of the crash was found to be a defect in the motorcycle’s kickstand and attorneys with the firm were able to prove at trial that the kickstand caused the young man’s injury.
Attorneys with Leesfield & Partners have built up the firm’s nationwide reputation in products liability cases. One such case handled by the firm was that of a family whose 2-year-old was tragically crushed by a dresser that tipped over, killing the child. The family was awarded $17.5 million and the manufacturer agreed to include warnings in its dresser catalog to raise awareness about the dangers of furniture tip-over incidents. Another case handled by Leesfield & Partners attorneys resulted in a $1,100,000 award for a family whose 4-month-old suffocated due to a design defect in a product for children.
Attorneys with the firm also secured a $2.5 million settlement amount for the family of a man who died after his ventilator malfunctioned from a power outage in the middle of the night. The backup battery for the ventilator lasted less than 10 minutes after the outage and alarms, meant to alert caregivers of an issue, failed to go off. Even though there were numerous other complaints to the manufacturer regarding this device that spanned a decade, neither the manufacturer nor the respiratory company took the necessary steps to address the issue or alert patients’ families.
If you were the victim of a products liability case, don’t wait. Call 800-836-6400 today for a free consultation.,
