COLORADO, USA — Multiple lawsuits are likely coming against McDonald's following an E. coli outbreak in Colorado and nine other states, according to attorney Bill Marler.
Marler is an attorney based in Washington state who specializes in foodborne illness, and represented dozens of people following a 2011 listeria outbreak connected to a Colorado cantaloupe farm.
“Usually there’s an inkling in the food safety world that there’s something happening,” Marler said. “This really kind of came out of the blue, and that concerns me because generally when outbreaks like that happen, it means that you’re seeing the beginning of this problem.”
Marler said he’s already been contacted by multiple people who were hospitalized with E. coli after eating McDonald’s in Nebraska.
As of Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control said 49 people have gotten sick nationwide, including 26 illnesses and one death in Colorado. At least 10 of those cases, including one death, were reported in Mesa County.
The CDC said early information indicates onions may be the source of the outbreak.
“Ultimately, McDonalds is still responsible,” Marler said. “If they’re able to identify who’s at fault in the sense of they can say ‘oh, it’s the onions,’ they can make a claim against the onion supplier, but ultimately the restaurant and the corporation is responsible for the food they serve.”
The CDC said it’s likely there are more cases than have been reported, but Marler said people will need concrete proof if they want to pursue legal action against McDonald's.
“I’ve gotten lots of random phone calls in the last 24 hours from people who ate at a McDonald's and had a stomachache,” he said. “Those are not going to be cases are likely provable. So, people really need to have either complete, solid evidence that they ate a Quarter Pounder in that time frame and had symptoms consistent with an E. coli infection, or that they tested positive for the bacteria.”