Authored By: Candace Whitman
According to a LexBlog article by Coral Beach, Judge Douglas Hogan of Utah ruled that Travis Knorr, who contracted E. Coli from sprouts in a sandwich from Jimmy John’s, may seek punitive damages in his case against Jimmy John’s.
Knorr became ill a few days after eating the sprouts. He tested positive for E. Coli and developed a C. difficile infection. He also had to have a fecal transplant. Knorr filed a civil lawsuit against the company at the end of March 2020 seeking compensatory damages to cover the medical costs and other costs he incurred as a result of the incident.
Fifty-one people across ten states also contracted E. Coli from the sprouts, according to the CDC. Knorr and two others were hospitalized as a result.
Beach stated, “It is relatively rare for punitive damages to be part of a food poisoning case, according to one of the couple’s attorneys, Bill Marler.”
Punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant and discourage similar activities for the defendant and other similar entities in the future. This was not the first outbreak that has been linked to Jimmy John’s. According to Beach’s article, since 1973, they have been linked to nearly 80 E. Coli outbreaks.
To read more about this case, click here to read Beach’s LexBlog article.
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