Food Poisoning Lawsuit
Summary: This article covers food poisoning lawsuits including the causes, elements necessary for a successful legal claim and the importance of hiring an experienced food poisoning lawyer.
When most people think of food poisoning, they think of an upset stomach lasting a day or two. However, some food poisoning cases can be more severe, leading to dehydration, a hospital stay, or even death. In other cases, food served at a restaurant causes not illness but choking or a chipped tooth caused by small foreign objects in the food. If you have experienced food poisoning and have incurred medical bills, lost wages, or other damages as a result, you may be able to receive compensation from the restaurant where the food was served by filing a personal injury lawsuit.
What are The Causes of Food Poisoning?
Food poisoning typically results from food that has not been handled or cooked in a safe manner. It can involve meat that has not been fully cooked, or food that has been exposed to bacteria due to improper storage. Food poisoning can also result from vegetables or fruit that were contaminated during growing or processing. Such contamination could be introduced to the food before it reaches the restaurant, or once the food is being prepared for serving. Other cases of restaurant injuries caused by food involve unexpected bones or small foreign objects in the food.
Often, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of the food poisoning. However, doing so is the key to determining whether the restaurant is at fault for the illness. If you have eaten at more than one restaurant in the 24 hours before you became ill, it can be difficult to prove which restaurant’s food is responsible. However, a skilled food poisoning attorney with experience pursuing these types of cases may be able to suggest legal strategies for proving that a particular restaurant was at fault. If you plan to file a food poisoning lawsuit, you will need to determine the case of the food poisoning, and be able to trace the source of the illness to a specific restaurant’s food handling practices.
Food Poisoning Lawsuits
In order to win a food poisoning lawsuit, you must be able to show that the poisoning was the result of negligent food preparation in the restaurant. Often, proving negligence and liability is the most difficult part of pursuing food poisoning lawsuits. This is why having an experienced attorney on your side can help. Your attorney can provide insight into the laws related to food poisoning and how to proceed with your case.
In the process of filing a food poisoning lawsuit, you will also need to determine your damages. If the food poisoning resulted in a few hours of an upset stomach, you may not have any financial damages, and therefore no basis to sue, even if you can prove that the restaurant caused an uncomfortable illness. However, if your illness required medical treatment, or you lost wages by staying home from work because you were sick, you may be able to receive compensation by filing a suit against the restaurant.
Your personal injury lawyer can help you determine the total amount of compensation you are due. This may include medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and punitive damages (see What’s your case worth?). Your food poisoning attorney can also help you assemble documentation, such as medical bills, in order to prove the financial damage of your illness.
Contact a Food Poisoning Lawyer
Proving the source of food poisoning can be a complicated legal issue because documentation of possible sources of contamination can be difficult to find. An experienced lawyer can either prove the source of the food poisoning or use expert witnesses who can testify about the likely source, as well as advising you about an appropriate course of action. Contact a food poisoning attorney today so they can examine the merits of your case.
