The first lawsuit stemming from the 10-state E. coli outbreak linked to ground beef has been filed by Pritzker Hageman, a national food safety law firm. The suit, case number 6:19-cv-00106-REW, was filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky Southern Division London on behalf of Melissa Carmicle, a Kentucky woman who developed an E. coli infection after eating ground beef. It names K2D Inc., DBA Colorado Premium Foods as the defendant.
According to the complaint, Carmicle developed symptoms of an E. coli infection a few days after eating ground beef. When her kidneys began to fail after she was hospitalized in early March, she was moved to the intensive care unit. After a stay of some days, she was released. She then began to experience seizures. She was airlifted to the hospital where she endured another lengthy stay that included time in the intensive care unit.
She is one of 156 people who have been sickened in a 10-state outbreak linked to ground beef contaminated with E. coli O103. They range in age from less than 1 year to 83 years old. Half of them are under the age of 19.
The case breakdown by state is as follows: Florida (3), Georgia (33), Illinois (1), Indiana (1), Kentucky (65), Minnesota (1), Mississippi (1), Ohio (8), Tennesse (41) and Virginia (2), according to the most recent update from the Centers for Disease Control an Prevention (CDC).
Today, K2D Foods issued a recall for ground beef potentially contaminated with E. coli O103. As part of its outbreak investigation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) has been testing samples of ground beef collected from grocery stores and restaurants where people sickened in this outbreak reported purchasing ground beef they became ill. A sample from an unopened package of ground beef collected from one of these restaurants tested positive for E. coli O103.