Food Poisoning Wrongful Death Suit Settled Over Recalled Ground Beef

A New Hampshire family has reached a settlement agreement with a supermarket and meat distributors in a wrongful death lawsuit brought over a fatal case of E. coli food poisoning allegedly caused by recalled ground beef. 

Lori Precourt, the daughter of Carolyn Black, agreed to the settlement last month, resolving a case filed against Shaw’s supermarket, Greater Omaha Hacking Co. and Fairbanks Farms.

According to allegations raised in the food poisoning wrongful death lawsuit, Carolyn Black died on October 30, 2009, after allegedly eating ground beef tainted with E. coli bacteria purchased at Shaw’s.

As a result of the food poisoning, Black died from a form of kidney failure known as Hemolytic-Urenia Syndrome (HUS), respiratory failure and other complications. She was 70.

The day after Black’s death, the FDA announced a Fairbanks Farms ground beef recall involving more than half a million pounds of ground beef, which was found to be tainted with E. coli that caused a food poisoning outbreak in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The details of the settlement were not made public.

E. coli  is one of the more common causes of food poisoning in the United States. When left untreated, it can lead to dehydration and potentially life-threatening illness. While most healthy adults recover from food poisoning caused by E. coli within a few weeks, young children and the elderly could be at risk for more severe illness. If the toxin enters the blood stream, E. coli could also lead to HUS.