A Nebraska meat processor's claim that a Minnesota church should be held responsible for tainted meatballs served at a smorgasbord has been settled.
The Associated Press | Posted: Monday, February 2, 2009 12:00 am
A Nebraska meat processor’s claim that a Minnesota church should be held responsible for tainted meatballs served at a smorgasbord has been settled.
An attorney for two families who sued Nebraska Beef and Ltd. and others in the implicated meat’s supply chain says they will receive payment, though other details were not disclosed.
Carolyn Hawkinson died and Ellie Wheeler became seriously ill after eating beef meatballs contaminated with E. coli bacteria at Salem Lutheran Church in Longville, Minn., in July 2006. At least 15 other people also became ill.
Attorney Bill Marler, who represented the Hawkinson and Wheeler families, said Monday the terms of the settlement are confidential.
The settlement resolves their claims against Nebraska Beef Ltd., Interstate Meat Services Inc. and Tabaka’s Super Valu. All those companies were in the chain of producing, distributing and selling the tainted beef.
Attorney Gary Gordon, who represented Omaha-based Nebraska Beef, confirmed the case had been settled but wouldn’t comment on the details.
Nebraska Beef’s counter lawsuit against the church was an oddity. Marler said he’s never heard of a food manufacturer suing a private entity like a church, although he has seen cases of a manufacturer suing a restaurant.
Filing the claim against the church was a boneheaded legal strategy, Marler said when it was filed in October 2007.
Gordon said at the time there were enough questions about how the church workers handled the meat that Nebraska Beef decided Salem should be part of the case.
The end of the lawsuit is a relief to the church, which maintained it did nothing wrong throughout the case, said Leatha Wolter, Salem’s attorney.
“This was simply an effort by a large company to shift blame,” Wolter said.
Hawkinson, 73, died in August 2006 after eating meatballs at the church event the previous month.
E. coli causes intestinal illness that generally clears up within a week for adults but can be deadly for the very young, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems.
Improper butchering and processing can cause allow E. coli to get into meat. Thorough cooking, to at least 160 degrees internal temperature, can destroy the bacteria.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the E. coli 0157:H7 variant sickens about 73,000 people and kills 61 each year in the United States.
In a separate case, Nebraska Beef Ltd. is suing a Colorado company to settle a dispute over the liability for beef that was recalled last summer.
The Omaha-based processor recalled nearly 7 million pounds of beef in two separate recalls after its products were linked to at least 76 cases of E. coli illnesses.
At least some of the recalled meat came from cattle that Loveland, Colo.-based Meyer Natural Foods LLC bought and sent to Nebraska Beef’s plant for processing from May 2008 through July 2008.
Meyer Natural Foods President Al Byers declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Privately held Nebraska Beef filed the federal lawsuit Friday against Meyer, seeking more than $75,000 damages.
The lawsuit raises the question of which company should be held liable for the tainted meat.
Meyer wanted Nebraska Beef to indemnify Meyer against any liability for the tainted meat.
But Nebraska Beef denies the contamination originated at its processing plant and says it did not breach the terms of its contract with Meyer. So Nebraska Beef wants the court to declare that it’s not obligated to indemnify Meyer.
At least four lawsuits were filed against Nebraska Beef last year after the recalls, including three in Georgia and one in Ohio.
Nebraska Beef slaughters about 2,000 head of cattle a day and employs about 800 people in Omaha.