Tarheel Q restaurant in Lexington, North Carolina, is at the center of a sweeping Salmonella outbreak that has sickened around 200 people from North Carolina and six other states, according to state health officials. BBQ contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium is suspected as the cause of the outbreak because the DNA fingerprint of a BBQ sample matched the fingerprint of Salmonella in a case-patient. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is investigating along with the Davidson County Health Department. Investigators have pegged June 6th as the start of the outbreak and they have reported that most of the illnesses have been in Tarheel Q customers who live in Davidson County or Davie County. The restaurant voluntarily closed after the link was established, but it could reopen June 28, officials said.
Most healthy adults infected by Salmonella recover from gastrointestinal symptoms within a week, but the pathogen can cause serious illness beyond painful diarrhea and result in long-term health problems. Of 197 confirmed illnesses in the Tarheel Q Salmonella outbreak, 7 percent of people have been hospitalized and 20 percent have made a doctor visit. About 10 percent of case-patients live outside Davie and Davidson counties.
YOU CAN SUE A RESTAURANT FOR FOOD POISONING
At this time, Tarheel Q has voluntarily closed through June 28th. Health Department records indicate that 82 percent of cases had illness onset dates between Tuesday, June 16, 2015, and Sunday, June 21, 2015. Even if health investigators fail to pinpoint BBQ as the source of this outbreak, victims can still sue the restaurant, That’s because the science of epidemiology has traced so many illnesses to people who ate at Tarheel Q within a short time period.
A good food poisoning lawyer will take cues from the investigation in terms of plotting legal strategy. You may have a punitive damages claim if there was gross negligence. Restaurants are generally required under state and local regulations to send sick employees home. If you were sickened by a sick restaurant employee, and the restaurant knew about the illness but did not send the employee home, you may have a punitive damages claim. In addition, if the restaurant has been cited by the local health department for unsanitary conditions in the past and the same conditions caused your illness, you may have a punitive damages claim. Punitive damages are amounts of money awarded to a food poisoning victim that are given to punish the wrongdoer. These amounts are given in addition to amounts for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, emotional distress and other “compensatory damages.”
Our Bad Bug Law Team is one of the very few legal groups in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Lawyers on the team are Fred Pritzker and Eric Hageman. We are involved in virtually every major foodborne illness outbreak in the United States and have obtained some of the largest recoveries ever recorded in foodborne illness cases including scores of million and multi-million dollar settlements. Contact us and an attorney will provide you with a free case consultation and explanation of how you would owe us nothing until we win your case.