What could be called The Case of the Last Supper - which it was for one church lady - has thrown open a Pandora Box of liability issues.
Heated discussion about this is reaching from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL to CBN News. And the plaintiff firm in the middle of it Marler Clark expects the controversy to accelerate to the point that one party - Nebraska Beef - backs off from its third-party lawsuit of Salem Lutheran Church in tiny Longville, Minnesota. I predict just that: Nebraska Beef ditching the suit because of the backlash of public and legal opinion.
Here's the background, briefed up:
The volunteer cooks at Salem Lutheran prepared a spaghetti-and-meatball potluck dinner. Turns out that the meat the Church purchased for this dinner had been contaminated with the deadly E-Coli O157:H7 bacteria. So lethal can contact with this strain of E-Coli be that during the Clinton Administration it was classified as an adulterant, whereas other food contaminates like Salmonella weren't. The law is that no trace of that strain of E-Coli can be present in hamburger. And that law is not in any way ambiguous.
One woman died. A number of others at the potluck dinner became very very sick, as is almost certain to happen with E-Coli 0157:H7. The families or the victims themselves contacted Marler Clark which has been specializing in food-borne diseases since the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak in the early 1990s. Lead attorney for them is Bill Marler. He filed lawsuits against Nebraska Beef which supplied the alleged contaminated beef to not only local supermarkets but also restaurants. In a stunner of a move, Nebraska Beef then sued Salem Lutheran, claiming that the injuries suffered by the plaintiffs were the direct and proximate cause of the church's negligence.
Sensing a liability crisis ready to break out, I contacted Bill Marler to explain what were the implications of Nebraska Beef's lawsuit. He agreed to this exclusive interview, which he provided between zombies and cavemen coming to his door for Halloween treats.
In essence, here is what Bill Marler observed to be the major liability issues:
- Do the law and the community want to treat potluck dinners at churches the same as meals served at a McDonald's or Ruby Tuesday. Should these personal dining experiences be held to the same standard as food provided by commercial establishments? We can all see where this is going: Neighbor will attack neighbor for "poisoning" them. Non-profit organizations will consider discontinuing these fellowship and often fund-raising events for fear of litigation as well as horrific publicity.
- What other major product category requires that consumers "fix" the product before usage? None. Yet, this sort of suit by Nebraska Beef assumes that those preparing the meat should have done extensive "fixing" of the cooking environment and the actual meat.
- Although this particular version of E-Coli can't be detected by smell, visual inspection or taste, the burden is being put on the food preparers to somehow proceed as if the meat could be contaminated. Yet, the meat came with the stamp of the approval: USDA Inspected Meat. Ironically, this puts consumers in the role of not trusting the government.
- This represents a possible dirty trick in legal proceedings which sets a scary precedent. Nebraska Beef through this third-party suit could be using the tactics of humiliation and shaming to get the victims to drop their own lawsuits. The thinking goes: The husband of the dead woman could feel social pressure not to involve his church and his neighbors in litigation.
Ironically, Bill Marler, who's usually attacked for being an aggressive plaintiff attorney, is being attacked in this situation for not also suing Salem Lutheran. Some readers sending in comments on this case to Peter Lattman's Law Blog article decry that Bill Marler is not suing every link in the chain of possible causation. He replies that having a right to sue does not mean one has to exercise that right. His more pragmatic rationale is that this second suit would muddy the waters before a jury.
Where could this be heading? Bill Marler - and follow his blogging - views this at its core as a public policy matter. The whole enchilada - from where the cows graze and what's next to the field to what food-processing systems producers have in-place to ensure safety - has to be analyzed and overhauled by the government powers-that-be. Obviously, the status quo is failing, killing people, and can unend bonds in church groups and communities.
Incidentally, when Bill Marler testified on food safety before the Waxman Committee, he told the government: Please put me out of business. He wants the problem totally eliminated.
Disclosure: Now and then I do editing for Marler Clark.
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