Liability Claims for Listeriosis
 

Food poisoning such as those for the listeria outbreak lawsuits generally involve defective product liability claims. The food is the defective product, such as cantaloupe infected with listeria, that has injured you.

What are the legal claims?

. There are various legal theories in these cases, and the specific facts of your case will determine which apply. Claims may potentially be brought against the producer, a grocery store, a restaurant, or any other entity involved in the supply chain. The most common legal theories in these cases are:

Strict product liability

Many states, including Colorado, have strict product liability statutes. Such statutes relieve you of the burden of showing that the grower or supplier of a contaminated food product was not sufficiently careful in providing or distributing that product. Instead, you need only to show that the food you ate was contaminated with the listeria strain associated with the outbreak, and that the contamination caused your illness. Colorado’s statute can be found at Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-401 et. seq.

Negligence

You may also be able to argue that the defendants negligently manufactured or supplied the contaminated food that made you sick. In order to prove negligence, you must show that the defendants were not reasonably careful in growing or distributing the contaminated cantaloupe that made you sick.

Breach of warranties

Most states, including Colorado, have imposed minimum standards for consumer products. Such laws are called “implied warranties.” For food products, it is typically an implied warranty of fitness for human consumption. The listeria contamination of the cantaloupe in your case may constitute a violation of an implied warranty. The contamination may also constitute a violation of any express guarantees supplied by the food processor, commonly printed on the products packaging. Colorado’s implied warranty statute is at Colo. Rev. Stat. § 2-3-314.

Statutes

State and federal governments can also provide you with potential in a food-borne illness claim. One example is the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, which provides a cause of action when a food contains “any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health.” Similarly, Colorado law prohibits the manufacture, sale, or delivery of a food that “bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance which is unsafe,” unless the amount of the substance is too miniscule to ordinarily cause harm.

Learn more about the listeria outbreak caused by the Jensen Farms cantaloupe.

Learn the symptoms of listeria, to determine if you should seek medical care.

If you believe you or a loved one has been infected with listeria, learn more about your legal options.