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HomeMedico-Legal'Dream team' assembled for listeriosis victims' $2bn claim

'Dream team' assembled for listeriosis victims' $2bn claim

A 'dream team' of world-class food safety experts is ready to act on behalf of SA's listeriosis victims and their family members, according to the mammoth 501-page lawsuit dropped on Tiger Brands by trial lawyer Richard Spoor. Food Safety News reports that in the complaint, seeking $2bn in damages in the worst listeria outbreak in history, Spoor discloses who he has already enlisted to assist the High Court of South Africa with the scientifically complicated case.

Top of the list is American food safety attorney Bill Marler, who Spoor previously announced would be consulting on the case. “Mr Marler has become the most prominent food-borne illness lawyer in America and a major force in food policy in the US and around the world. Marler Clark – the food safety law firm, has represented tens of thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused life-altering injury and even death.”

Court documents also show that together, Spoor and Marler have enlisted these experts:
Professor David Coetzee of the division of public health medicine at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is a public health specialist with 25 years of experience in infectious diseases.
Professor Chris Griffith, an independent consultant on aspects of food quality and safety and editor of the British Food Journal.
Kevin Elfering, with Rio Rancho, New Mexico-based Southwest Food Safety Systems, an expert on trace-back investigations of food products involved in food-borne illnesses investigations. He previously headed Minnesota’s food inspection division.
Professor Jorgen Schlundt, professor, food science and technology, Nanyang Technological University and director, NTU Food Technology Centre (NAFTEC), Singapore.
Dr Mansour Samadpour, the CEO of IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group.
Professor Martin Wiedmann, the Gellert Family professor in food safety of the department of food science at Cornell University.
Professor Michael Osterholm, the director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.
Professor Craig Hedberg of the division of environmental health science at the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.

The report says the ongoing listeria outbreak stretches back 15 months, a period when South Africa has confirmed 982 cases of listeriosis with 189 deaths. The food source was bologna or “polony” as it is known in South Africa. Enterprise Foods, a unit of Tiger Brands, produced it in Polokwane.

Spoor is a widely known attorney in South Africa, most recently for representing as many as 30,000 mineworkers who contracted silicosis in one of the most significant class actions ever certified in South Africa.

The report says in the class action against Tiger Brands, Spoor wants the court to certify four separate victim classes. They are:
First Class – those who personally consumed contaminated processed meat products and fell ill.
Second Class – children whose mothers consumed contaminated processed meat products while pregnant and passed the infections to them in utero, causing harm at birth.
Third Class – dependents of people who died from eating contaminated processed meat products.
Fourth Class – individuals liable for the care of persons from eating contaminated processed meat. Their duty to care for others who fell ill from consuming the contaminated meat products causes them to suffer damages.

The report says the class action “applicants” listed in the lawsuit illustrate how the classes will be applied if the court goes along with the plan. “The applicants are among the many victims of the epidemic. Each applicant has suffered profound loss as a result of the epidemic,” writes Spoor.

“Some contracted and survived listeriosis. Others lost family members. Some applicants are parents, whose newborn babies contracted serious illnesses that will haunt them for life. Other applicants are parents whose babies were stillborn as a direct result of listeriosis.”

The report says Tiger Foods has acknowledged receipt of the class action but has not yet responded to it.

Spoor frames the case against the meat processor in stark terms. “Those who profit from the preparation and distribution of food products have a duty to take reasonable measures to avoid their foodstuffs being contaminated with pathogens,” he says. “The production of food in general, and ready-to-eat foods, in particular, involves immense public trust. At the heart of this case is the respondents’ breach of this trust and the consequences of the breach.

“The respondents make substantial profits from preparing and distributing processed, ready-to-eat meat products, such as polony, Russian sausages, and vienna sausages. The respondents’ products are popular. This is especially so among poor people because the products provide a relatively inexpensive source of protein.”

 

Spoor and Marler have used 10 applicants as representatives of the range of victims in the world’s biggest and most devastating listeriosis outbreak. The Times reports that the attorneys are seeking compensation for families or survivors who come forward and join the 70 affected people who form part of the class action so far.

The report says the summary of the 10 applicants’ stories makes for grim reading. It is claimed that in all 10 cases the listeriosis was contracted from eating ready-to-eat processed meats "originating from‚ or having passed through" the Enterprise meat processing facility at Polokwane between October 23‚ 2016 and March 4‚ 2018".

Applicant 1: MONTLHA NGOBENI – A mother and SAPS emergency call centre operator based in Polokwane‚ Limpopo‚ who gave birth to a baby girl on December 22. The baby‚ having contracted listeriosis in the womb‚ from her mother‚ developed severe meningitis which has led to neurological complications‚ requiring two surgical interventions.
Applicant 2: CLINTON CHINULA – A bank official from Eldorado Park‚ Johannesburg‚ father of a three-year-old child who contracted listeriosis‚ along with several other children‚ while at Klipspruit child care centre after eating contaminated polony.
Applicant 3: TEBOGO NTJANA – Midrand woman who contracted listeriosis while pregnant. As a result‚ she suffered a miscarriage caused by bacterial inflammation of her placenta.
Applicant 4: PHILIP GEORGE COETZEE – a former construction contractor who lives in Danielskruil‚ Northern Cape‚ whose father died in December 2017 as a result of listeriosis‚ contracting from eating Tiger Brands’ contaminated products.
Applicant 5: PRESENDRIE GOVENDER – a former business owner in Durban‚ who contracted listeriosis after eating contaminated products. While she survived the infection‚ her baby‚ born on 9 November‚ 2017‚ was declared brain dead the next day. The mother agreed to turn off the life support machines that kept her child’s body functioning.
Applicant 6: ANNELIZE LE ROUX – a Winburg‚ Free State‚ farmer who fell ill while pregnant‚ along with her three minor children. Her baby was stillborn as a result.
Applicant 7: XOLILE BOSCH – an industrial cleaner from Polokwane‚ Limpopo‚ who contracted listeriosis and survived. His illness was aggravated and almost overlooked as result of another chronic medical condition‚ which also affects his digestive system. He was hospitalised for several weeks to treat his listeriosis.
Applicant 8: A GYNAECOLOGIST – his wife was pregnant with twins when she contracted listeriosis‚ going into premature labour on December 21 – at 27 weeks. One child was stillborn‚ and the other daughter may have serious developmental issues‚ including the possibility of cognitive disability‚ deafness and/or blindness. The couple had struggled to conceive‚ succeeding with medical assistance after their fifth attempt. It is unlikely that the couple will conceive again.
Applicant 9: SEBASTIAN LAURENT STEPHEN SCHWAGELE-FAN MORITZ – previously Glenn Frederick Strutt‚ Moritz lives in Cambridge‚ England‚ and is the adopted son of Aldeth Olive Strutt‚ a 73-year-old pensioner who lives in a Cape Town retirement village. Moritz changed his surname to that of his biological mother but remains responsible for the caregiving of his adoptive mother. Strutt had to be hospitalised in intensive care to treat her Listeria meningitis and sepsis. This infection has seen her health deteriorate significantly and has increased Moritz’s financial care obligations towards her.
Applicant 10: SHEREZE CURTIS – an unemployed mother of four minor children‚ living in Giyani‚ Limpopo. She and her children contracted listeriosis after eating the contaminated products and had to be admitted to hospital. The two eldest children were treated for meningitis.

[link url="http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2018/04/dream-team-ready-to-help-south-african-listeriosis-victims/#.WsIgoIhubIU"]Food Safety News report[/link]
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-03-29-ten-heartbreaking-cases-cited-in-listeriosis-lawsuit/"]The Times report[/link]

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