The wife of a man hospitalised after consuming contaminated cantaloupe filed suit in El Paso County District Court (US).
The lawsuit names Jensen Farms and Walmart as defendants. The plaintiffs, Charles and Tammy Palmer, are represented by national food poisoning illness law firm Marler Clark.
According to the complaint, Charles Palmer consumed the Listeria-contaminated cantaloupe in August. He had purchased one whole cantaloupe at the Walmart store located on Razorback Road in Colorado Springs (US) several days before.
He fell ill with symptoms of listeriosis, the illness caused by Listeria infection, on 30 August. The next morning, Mr Palmer’s wife found him unresponsive and immediately rushed her husband to the hospital, where he has remained ever since. He has tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, the strain of Listeria involved in the cantaloupe outbreak.
The Palmer family attorney, William Marler, said: “Walmart, Jensen Farms and other food companies have a public responsibility to all consumers to sell and distribute food that is free and clear of dangerous adulterants such as Listeria with no exceptions. In this case, a lapse in food safety assurance has relegated an innocent man to a hospital bed for a long time.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently confirmed that 15 Listeria cases in four states, including one death, have been linked to cantaloupe produced in the Rocky Ford region of colorado.
Outbreak victims are residents of Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. Jensen Farms has recalled all of its Rocky Ford cantaloupes due to potential Listeria contamination.
New Mexico health officials confirmed that nine additional Listeria cases, including three deaths, are potentially linked to cantaloupe. The investigation into whether the two Listeria outbreaks are connected is ongoing.
Source: Marler Clark
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