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Firm to File 2nd Salmonella Wrongful Death Lawsuit

By PritzkerLaw

                                                                        Press Release

Minneapolis, Minn. – January 31, 2009 -- National food safety law firm Pritzker | Olsen, P.A., has been retained by the family of an 87-year-old Minnesota woman to file a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America, the company that federal officials have said is the cause of a 43-state outbreak that has resulted in eight deaths and more than 100 hospitalizations.

The suit on behalf of the family of the late Doris I. Flatgard will be Pritzker | Olsen's second wrongful death action to stem from the peanut product Salmonella outbreak, said Fred Pritzker, founder and president. The first lawsuit – which was also the first of its kind in the nation – was filed less than two weeks ago in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis for the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minnesota.

Like the Almer lawsuit, the second suit will allege negligence on the part of Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA products.

Both women had been residing in Good Samaritan Society nursing homes in Brainerd, Minnesota, when they became infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium from eating contaminated King Nut peanut butter made by PCA and sold by King Nut Companies.

Mrs. Flatgard died January 4 at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd, 14 days after Mrs. Almer died. The King Nut peanut butter they ate was recalled January 10 by PCA, which has since expanded its Salmonella contamination product recall to include everything produced at its Blakely, Georgia, plant since January 1, 2007.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has said that Salmonella infections from PCA products might have contributed to eight deaths, including three in Minnesota. Besides Mrs. Almer and Mrs. Flatgard, the third Minnesotan to die in connection with the outbreak was Clifford Tousignant, 78, of Duluth. Tousignant also was residing in a Good Samaritan nursing home in Brainerd when he was sickened by the outbreak strain of Salmonella.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified the Georgia plant as the source of the ongoing outbreak, which began in early September and has sickened more than 529 Americans. In addition, the FDA has launched a joint criminal investigation of PCA with the U.S. Department of Justice. An FDA inspection of the Georgia plant in January found instances of the company selling product that had tested positive in the plant for Salmonella. The company retested the product and shipped it, the FDA has said.

Mrs. Flatgard was born November 21, 1921, near Sanish, North Dakota. She lived in the area around Bergen, Minnesota, before moving to Brainerd to reside at Good Samaritan's Oakwood House.

Pritzker | Olsen has considerable experience and a reputation for success in representing survivors of foodborne illnesses (including E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella). The firm is involved in virtually every national outbreak and has collected large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated food. In addition, the firm is devoted to educating the public about food safety issues and advocating for badly needed food safety legislation and increased funding for the federal, state and local agencies charged with protecting our food and enforcing food safety laws.

Fred Pritzker and members of his firm are frequent guests and commentators about food safety issues and have been interviewed by and profiled in a number of media sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and CNN.

For more information, visit http://www.pritzkerlaw.com or contact Fred Pritzker at (612) 338-0202. PritzkerLaw has offices are located at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402

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Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on January 31, 2009 (boomark / email).