<p>Two E. Coli contamination lawsuits against Tanimura & Antle <B>have been dismissed</b>, due to failure on behalf of the plaintiff’s representation to produce sufficient, compelling evidence that the infections resulted from the consumption of the defendant’s product.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Food poisoning lawyer Bill Marler of Seattle firm Marler Clark filed two suits against Tanimura & Antle in Colorado and California, alleging that both cases had merit. Wesley Van Camp, Tanimura & Antle’s VP Legal and General Counsel challenged Marler for pushing the boundaries on foodborne illness litigation, noting his <B>weak epidemiology report</b> and that <B>these allegations were Marler’s alone.</b> </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>"Tanimura & Antle was never the subject of governmental investigation in either of these cases," said Van Camp. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><B>Colorado</b></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The trial Liebnow v. Boston Enterprises in Pueblo, Colorado was set for June 3, 2014, but was <B>dismissed a week prior by the plaintiff</b>, Emily Liebnow. Tanimura & Antle contends that David Acheson, a former Associate Commissioner for Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, testified that public health officials <B>“did not conduct a full traceback of romaine lettuce in this cluster”</b> because the FDA did not feel as though there was a compelling case to undertake the traceback. Acheson adds that the FDA “should have made no definitive statements with regard to the food source in this cluster without ruling out other sources of exposure and without doing a full traceback,” according to a press release.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>According to Acheson’s report, public health officials <B>mistakenly hypothesized that the romaine lettuce implicated in the suit had come from one supplier.</b> This determination was made without testing any food products, without a full food history taken from all cases, without any exploration of possible additional sources of contamination, without a case control study, and without a full traceback investigation.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>He concludes, “…there is nothing to indicate to a reasonable level of scientific certainty that romaine lettuce was the source of this cluster, nor is there anything in the information reviewed to indicate with a reasonable degree of scientific [certainty] that the cases in this cluster are explained by a single point of contamination or event in the supply chain where contamination of the romaine is likely to have occurred.” </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Marler argued against these claims, retaliating with testimony from medical doctor and expert Timothy Jones. Jones cites a report by Kevin Elfering, Food Technologist, noting that the supposed traceback of the romaine lettuce “identified a single, specific establishment producing the lettuce, but also converged on a specific date on which the implicated lettuce was produced.” He concludes that this “convincingly identifies” that the lettuce produced by Tanimura & Antle on August 27, 2009 was the likely source of the E. Coli outbreak.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“It is far more likely than not that Emily Liebnow’s infection resulted from the consumption of contaminated romaine lettuce from Tanimura & Antle, served at Giacomo’s restaurant on September 6, 2009,” said Jones in the report. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Despite Marler’s expert opinion, he still made the decision not to proceed with trial. Elfering makes a number of assumptions, all of which were not investigated by the state’s health departments, the FDA, or even by the plaintiff. For example, he uses 7 cases out of the 10 that were PFGE pattern linked during the public health investigation, and simply discards the other 3 for his analysis, and he wrongly assumes that Tanimura & Antle romaine lettuce is used in King Sooper’s prepackaged salads when it is not. The only fact is that Tanimura & Antle supplied romaine lettuce to Giacomo’s restaurant, where Liebnow consumed a house salad, among other things. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>This isn’t the only case he filed for dismissal that suggests that Marler did not have sufficient evidence to prove his case.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><B>California</b></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Marler, representing another plaintiff in California, also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Oroville Bernacki on behalf of his deceased wife Gail Bernacki. Tanimura & Antle’s attorney Gregory Rockwell said that the plaintiff would be <B>unable to prove that the decedent’s E. Coli infection resulted from the consumption of the defendant’s product.</b></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>However, Marler claims that Gail Bernacki showed a genetic match to the E. Coli strain found in Tanimura & Antle’s romaine lettuce, citing evidence from foodborne illness epidemiologist, Dr. John Kobayashi. Though Tanimura & Antle issued a recall on romaine lettuce on August 19, 2012, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that there had been “no reported illnesses associated with consumption of this product.” Once again, this suggests that Marler's allegations were his own and that there wasn't sufficient evidence to truly make a significant case against Tanimura & Antle.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue to follow any further updates regarding this litigation.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.taproduce.com" target="_new"> Tanimura & Antle</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
