Simon & Luke Files First Cyclospora Lawsuit Against Olive Garden

TOLEDO, Ohio, Aug. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Houston-based food safety law firm of Simon & Luke, along with local counsel Williams, DeClark & Tuschman, has filed the first lawsuit in Ohio stemming from a multi-state Cyclospora outbreak linked to salad mix produced by Mexico-based Taylor Farms and served at Olive Garden Restaurants.  A copy of the lawsuit is available upon request.

The lawsuit was filed in Lucas County, Ohio on behalf of Justin Haren, a 35-year old resident of Toledo.  According to the lawsuit, Mr. Haren consumed salad he had purchased at an Olive Garden on May 28, 2013.  Shortly thereafter, he started to experience nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramping, bloating, loss of appetite, and fever.  He initially attempted to ride out the illness, but when his symptoms did not improve, he presented to an Urgent Care facility in Maumee, Ohio on June 23, 2013.  He was diagnosed with gastroenteritis.  He received additional follow up treatment at Springforest Family Physicians the next day, where additional testing was performed.  Test results would later show that Mr. Haren had tested positive for Cyclospora.

In July, still suffering the effects of Cyclospora infection and having lost 20 pounds, he presented to Wellstar Paulding Hospital and received additional treatment.

Mr. Haren subsequently received a call from Ohio State Health department informing him that he was part of a nationwide Cyclospora outbreak. The outbreak has been linked to consumption of salads served at Olive Garden restaurants. 

Mr. Haren is still recovering from his illness, and will require ongoing monitoring of his condition. 

Mr. Haren is one of at least 466 victims in 16 states who have been recently sickened with Cyclospora according to the CDC.  http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/cyclosporiasis/outbreaks/investigation-2013.html

According to the CDC website, Cyclospora is a parasite that is commonly spread by ingestion of food or water contaminated with feces.   http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/cyclosporiasis/gen_info/faqs.html

Ron Simon, counsel for Mr. Haren, issued the following statement: "Olive Garden and Taylor Farms have an obligation to make sure that the food they sell is free of human or animal feces.  They failed that obligation, and will now have to answer for it."

Mr. Simon represents dozens of Cyclospora victims nationwide in this outbreak, and anticipates filing several additional lawsuits in the coming days.

About Ron Simon

Ron Simon's groundbreaking work on behalf of victims in several recent national food borne illness outbreaks (Townsend Farms Organic Berries, Peter Pan peanut butter, Castleberry's chili, Nestle cookie dough, Peanut Corporation of America Peanut products, JBS Swift beef, Daniele salami, Subway sandwiches, Wright County Egg eggs, Agromod papayas, and Moon Marine sushi, to name a few) have been featured on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and virtually all other major television networks and in print media.  His firm has represented over 5,000 victims of food-borne outbreaks in the past five years alone, and has collected over $550,000,000 for its clients. 

The firm regularly publishes articles about food safety and litigation at www.myfoodpoisoninglawyer.com which are read by viewers in over 180 countries.

For media inquiries or more information on this outbreak and ongoing litigation, please contact Ron Simon directly at (713) 819-8116 or [email protected] or Tony Coveny at (713) 306-3880 or [email protected]

SOURCE Simon & Luke