"We thought that we had the meat-safety issue fixed." That's what Bill Marler of Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm specializing in food-borne diseases, told me a few months ago. There had been a large meat recall. Following the Jack-in-the-Box E-Coli incidents in the early part of the first Clinton Administration, government pulled out all stops to make the meat supply chain fail-safe. Last year it was produce the nation was worried about. But that meat fix has become undone.
This weekend Bill and I discussed the horrific Topps' recall of 21,700,000 pounds of meat because of possible E-Coli contamination. Already his firm has been contacted by the families of four victims who fell ill. Bill's no slouch at reaching out to anyone and everyone with the authority and resources to identify and address the current weak links.
But his oversight on this matter goes beyond that. He's advocating that Topps, just as when Chi-Chi, Dole et al. were in similar situations, pay medical expenses now. Those E-Coli victims who are lucky enough to have health insurance probably have high deductibles. In addition, there are associated costs of being out of work. Litigation takes forever. During that forever they can go bankrupt.
If this goodwill gesture becomes standard, the companies' brand can be preserved and, as often happens, lawsuits can be prevented. We tend to sue those with whom we've had a bad relationship - or at least the perception of such. Bill keeps asking the food industry to put him out of business by taking care of their gaps in safety. This immediate coverage of medical expenses, no questions asked, might just do the trick. You can read all about this on Bill's blog.
I want to thank Bill Marler and his colleagues at Marler Clark for keeping me up-to-the-minute on food-contamination outbreaks.
