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The law permits those who have become ill due to consuming tainted food to bring a lawsuit against the restaurants, grocery stores, or food service organizations responsible for causing the illness. The victim may be entitled to compensation for their medical expenses, time lost from work, any pain and suffering they endured, and punitive damages.
Food Poisoning Lawyer
Have you or a loved one suffered from food poisoning? Contact Ali Awad, ‘the CEO Lawyer,’ and his team of experienced personal injury attorneys at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm by calling (833) 254-2923 or contacting us online to receive your free and confidential case evaluation. Attorney Ali Awad, ‘the CEO Lawyer,’ established the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm and quickly turned it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. If we take your case, you won’t pay anything until we win. A food poisoning lawyer can help you obtain the just compensation you deserve for your injuries.
When Is a Restaurant Responsible for Those Who Get Sick from Eating There?
Damages brought on by foodborne illnesses could be the responsibility of the establishment. A plaintiff needs to be able to prove the following three things to be awarded damages for a personal injury:
- The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care
- The defendant breached their obligation by acting negligently
- The defendant’s conduct played a significant role in causing the plaintiff’s injuries.
Customers have a right to expect that restaurants will not offer them food that has been tainted. If a restaurant breaches this responsibility and it causes a customer to become ill as a result of the restaurant’s actions, the consumer has the legal right to sue the restaurant for damages.
Customers can suffer food poisoning from various sources, but the most common cause is faulty food handling practices implemented by the business or its staff. Food handlers and restaurant management should be aware of the proper procedures for preventing the contamination of food. When a consumer becomes sick from the meal, it is frequently because someone is not following the proper procedures for maintaining food safety.
When Does a Company That Provides Food Service Have Liability in Cases of Food Poisoning?
When a food service provider supplies food that contains bacteria or other pathogens, the customer may not know if the restaurant caused the food poisoning or whether the supplier was to blame for the illness. A person who has been harmed as a result of food poisoning may be eligible to bring a claim for compensation under product liability rules in accordance with Georgia law. Even if the individual or corporation who manufactured or sold the defective goods did not behave negligently in any way, they are nevertheless held strictly accountable for any harm caused by the product under the rules that govern product liability.
Companies that offer restaurants with food and ingredients are considered to be part of the food service industry. This includes local sources of meat, fruit, and other products in addition to national food service companies such as Aramark and Sysco. It is possible that these businesses are supplying area restaurants with fresh fruit, eggs, meats, and other food goods that have been tainted with contamination.
How Can You Prove That a Restaurant or Food Service Company Was Responsible for Your Illness?
If you become ill from a virus or bacteria, it might be challenging to determine the source of the contamination that caused your illness. People can react differently to certain germs, and the “incubation times” for these reactions might vary. Some infections can cause symptoms to appear within a couple of hours, while others may not manifest themselves for several days.
To give just one example, the development of signs and symptoms of an E. coli infection might take anywhere from one day to more than a week. This means that if you get sick from food poisoning on a Sunday, the source of the contamination might conceivably be from anything you ate throughout the previous week leading up to the Sunday that you got sick. In addition, symptoms of listeria often begin between 1 and 4 weeks after ingesting food contaminated with the bacteria, although it can take as long as 70 days.
You may be able to prove that a restaurant or food service firm got you sick by providing direct evidence of contamination or by demonstrating many diseases that are comparable to yours that originated from the same source.
If whatever you ate or drank made you feel sick, you should probably see a doctor or another healthcare professional so that you can get checked out. In many cases, the type of bacterium, virus, or other pathogen that may be responsible for your disease can be determined through testing. In certain circumstances, you may have some of the meal’s leftovers, which could also be examined for the presence of germs or other contaminants. Even if you never get tested for the sort of bacteria that caused your disease, you may still have a case against a restaurant if there has been an outbreak of illness among a larger number of people.
What Kinds Of Foodborne Illnesses Are Most Frequent?
There are many different kinds of bacteria and viruses that are associated with food and can make people sick. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), scientists have recognized more than 250 diseases that are transmitted via food. The following are examples of common foodborne illnesses:
- E. coli (Escherichia coli)
- Campylobacter\sCryptosporidium
- Clostridium perfringens
- Botulism (Clostridium botulinum) (Clostridium botulinum)
- Giardia
- Listeria
- Norovirus (Norwalk virus, calicivirus, viral gastroenteritis) (Norwalk virus, calicivirus, viral gastroenteritis)
- Salmonellosis (Salmonella) (Salmonella)
- Poisoning Caused by Scombroids in Fish
- Shigella
- Staphylococcus aureus (Staph)
- Toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii) (Toxoplasma gondii)
- Infections caused by Vibrio (Vibrio parahaemolyticus)
- Yersinia
- E. coli that produces the Shiga toxin
- Hepatitis A virus
It is possible for germs or viruses to contaminate any kind of food, as well as non-food things like plates and cutlery. The following are some of the foods that are most commonly associated with foodborne illnesses:
- Uncooked meat and poultry from animals
- Raw eggs
- Unpasteurized milk
- Uncooked shellfish
- Fruits and vegetables that have been tainted by the feces of animals or humans
- Uncooked sprouts
- Unpasteurized fruit juices
- Food that has been handled by a sick person can spread disease.
The following are some of the most common symptoms of food poisoning, which can be caused by consuming infected or tainted products:
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal cramps
- Nausea
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Vomiting
- A decreased desire to eat
- Loss of weight
How Do I Report That a Restaurant Served Me Food That Made Me Sick?
Visit a medical professional if you feel unwell after dining at a restaurant and have any reason to suspect that you may have been contaminated by food. The majority of cases of food poisoning induce symptoms that are considered to be rather mild; nonetheless, foodborne infections can be severe and even result in death.
Your physician might also be able to do tests to determine the specific illness or germs that you have. You may be able to track down the origin of the food poisoning and prevent others from becoming ill as a result of your efforts. You should also consider notifying the health department in your area about the food poisoning. The identification of possible outbreaks by health officials can be aided by the reporting of diseases that are caused by food.
Food Poisoning Evidence
It is important that you collect evidence concerning the food poisoning if at all possible. Examples of this could include:
- Keeping leftovers for testing
- Keeping track of one’s meal’s respective receipts
- Keeping track of when, where, and what you consumed on your trip by making a list
- Record all of your symptoms in a journal
- Locate the other customers that were there at the restaurant at the time in question
Food Poisoning Attorneys
If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of food poisoning, you should get in touch with knowledgeable food poisoning attorneys. You may be entitled to compensation for your medical expenses, lost earnings, and other damages if you hire a personal injury attorney with experience representing clients in food contamination situations.
Contact Ali Awad, ‘the CEO Lawyer,’ and his team of experienced personal injury attorneys at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm by calling (833) 254-2923 or contacting us online. to receive your free and confidential case evaluation. Attorney Ali Awad, ‘the CEO Lawyer,’ established the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm and quickly turned it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. If we take your case, you won’t pay anything until we win.