Do you remember when Del Monte vegetable trays were recalled? Well, now a woman in Eau Claire filed a lawsuit alleging she became ill after consuming vegetables produced and distributed by Del Monte and Kwik Trip. In response, lawyers representing both companies are pushing back against the woman’s lawsuit and calling for its dismissal. According to court documents filed in Eau Claire County Court earlier this month, “Kwik Trip convenience stores and Del Monte Fresh Produce said they are not responsible for the woman, Averie K. Goodman, becoming sick on May 30.”
Do you remember when Del Monte vegetable trays were recalled? Well, a woman in Eau Claire filed a lawsuit alleging she became ill after consuming vegetables produced and distributed by Del Monte and Kwik Trip. In response, lawyers representing both companies are pushing back against the woman’s lawsuit and calling for its dismissal. According to court documents filed in Eau Claire County Court earlier this month, “Kwik Trip convenience stores and Del Monte Fresh Produce said they are not responsible for the woman, Averie K. Goodman, becoming sick on May 30.”
In her suit, Goodman claims she became ill and experienced “nausea and stomach pain, followed by debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms.” According to her complaint, she purchased and consumed vegetable trays from a Kwik Trip store located at “4395 N. Town Hall Road, between May 14 and 29.” She fell ill soon after and when the “illness persisted, she went to her doctor on June 8.” Tests conducted the following day revealed she was infected with cyclospora, “a microscopic parasite usually found in developing countries.” To fight the effects of the illness, Goodman’s doctors prescribed her antibiotics, but she “continued to experience fatigue and other symptoms,” according to the suit.
Filed June 14, Goodman’s suit is seeking “payment of her medical bills, plus compensation for lost wages, pain, and suffering, and attorney’s fees.” Additionally, it accuses both Del Monte and Kwik Trip of “neglect for producing, distributing and selling food adulterated by cyclospora.” For those who don’t know, “fecal contamination of water used on food crops is often the culprit of cyclospora outbreaks.”
While pushing back against Goodman’s suit, lawyers for Del Monte and Kwik Trip said she “can’t prove she became ill because of Del Monte vegetable trays she bought at Kwik Trip” and noted that “Goodman’s complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” In addition to seeking an immediate dismissal of the lawsuit, both companies are asking for “compensation for attorney’s fees.”
The vegetable products that allegedly made Goodman sick were “ready-to-eat vegetable trays with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and dill dip.” They were produced by Del Monte and sold in Kwik Trip stores. On June 8, the vegetable trays were removed from Kwik Trip stores “in cooperation with health advisories in Wisconsin and Minnesota…after 11 people in Wisconsin and three in Minnesota tested positive for cyclospora.” Later investigations revealed that the “cyclospora was linked to Del Monte trays sold at Kwik Trip locations.”
Sources:
Kwik Trip, Del Monte want lawsuit dismissed
Eau Claire woman files lawsuit against Kwik Trip & Del Monte
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