Column: As food poisoning cases mount, lawsuits follow

Yum! Brands

20/07/2026 21:14

The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.
By Jenna Greene

    July 20 (Reuters) - When federal health officials on Thursday linked lettuce served at Taco Bell to a food-poisoning outbreak that has sickened thousands of people, plaintiffs' lawyers wasted little time.
Within hours, three law firms had filed lawsuits against Taco Bell, marking the beginning of what could be widespread litigation against the restaurant chain and other defendants over what lawyers say is the largest cyclospora outbreak in U.S. history.

    Taco Bell said it removed "potentially ​affected" lettuce supplied to its restaurants in a handful of states “out of an abundance of caution.”  A spokesperson for the Yum Brands-owned restaurant chain did not comment on the litigation.
  
Symptoms of cyclosporiasis, which begin about a week after consuming tainted food, include "explosive" diarrhea, as well as cramps and fatigue. More than 140 cases in the current outbreak have been severe enough to require hospitalization.
The complaints against Taco Bell don’t allege the restaurant itself directly caused the contamination. But such allegations aren’t necessary for the suits to succeed.
That's because the laws of most U.S. states permit consumers to bring “strict liability” claims over contaminated food.
Unlike in a typical negligence lawsuit, someone who is sickened by something they ate does not generally have to prove the food producer, manufacturer or restaurant acted carelessly or was even aware of the contamination.
Instead, consumers typically need only show that the food itself was defective or “unreasonably dangerous” when it entered the stream of commerce, and that the defect caused their illness. If successful, plaintiffs can receive compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and other damages.
Such cases rarely go to trial. Instead, they’re usually settled. Plaintiffs’ lawyer Bill Marler, who sued Taco Bell and still-unnamed suppliers in Ohio federal court last week on behalf of a sickened man, told me he has settled prior cyclospora cases for $25,000 to more than $1 million, depending on the severity of the illness. 
A single-celled parasite, cyclospora can contaminate raw produce such as leafy greens, herbs and berries when water used to irrigate or wash crops contains feces.
     

    WHO PAYS? 
  
The notion that food sellers should bear special responsibility for the products they sell stretches back centuries. Common law sources describe criminal statutes dating to the 13th century that applied to sellers of "corrupt" food and drink. 
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Ron Simon of Houston-based Ron Simon & Associates, who filed a suit against Taco Bell in Ohio state court on behalf of a man who claimed he got sick after eating at one of its restaurants in Youngstown, explained the rationale behind strict liability.
“It all comes down to the notion of trust,” he told me. Consumers can’t see, smell or taste pathogens like cyclospora, Simon noted, leaving them with no practical way to independently verify that food is safe. Instead, he said, they expect producers and restaurants to ensure that it is.
The origins of the current outbreak remain unclear. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday said that ​a sample of shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by ‌Taylor Farms tested positive for cyclospora, only to retract its findings next day.
Reuters reported that FDA on Sunday said laboratory experts re-checked the sample and concluded the finding should be considered a false positive.

    Taylor Farms, a California-based lettuce supplier, did not respond to a request for comment but in a statement on its website, it said, "To be clear, at this moment, FDA has not identified a ​single positive product test result for cyclospora."
The company previously announced it was removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico out of an abundance of caution. 
If previous cyclospora outbreaks are any guide, the exact origin of the parasite may never be pinpointed. For example, a 2018 outbreak tied to McDonald's salads sickened more than 500 people, but federal investigators never identified a single contamination source. 
Two years later, regulators linked another large outbreak to bagged salads sold at Walmart, Aldi and other grocers, but again closed the investigation without determining exactly how the parasite entered the supply chain.
That didn’t stop the lawsuits, however.
Marler’s firm, Seattle-based Marler Clark, represented 30 plaintiffs in suits involving the bagged salads. Those cases settled on confidential terms. The firm also brought similar suits against McDonald’s.
Cyclospora outbreaks can be harder to trace than those caused by bacteria such as E. coli or salmonella, Marler said. In those investigations, public health officials often use whole-genome sequencing to link illnesses to a common source with a high degree of precision.
Becasue cyclospora is a parasite that cannot be routinely grown in laboratories, it's more difficult for investigators to obtain genetic evidence, according to the CDC. As a result, health officials rely more heavily on patient interviews and supply-chain records to track down the source of contamination. 
The cases over the current outbreak may also extend well beyond any link to Taco Bell.
The CDC said that more than 1,600 people reported falling ill after eating at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. But thousands of additional cyclospora cases have been reported in other states as well, and may be unrelated to the restaurant, the CDC said. 
The mystery of how cyclospora entered the food supply may take months to unravel — or may never be fully solved. But for plaintiffs' lawyers, the question is simpler: who should pay – and how much — for the damage it caused? 

(Reporting by Jenna Greene)