Posted December 4, 2013
Eric and Ryan Jensen have agreed to assign their
lawsuit against PrimusLabs to the victims of the 2011 listeria outbreak
connected to cantaloupe from their farm, according to an article by The Packer
available here.
The Jensens hired PrimusLabs to conduct a food safety
audit and Primus paid a third-party contractor to do the job. Big Food Safety sent an auditor to the farm
who gave the Jensens’ operation a score of 96 out of 100.
The agreement took place after a meeting in which the Jensens
apologized to some family member of victims of the listeria outbreak that
killed 33 and hospitalized 147 people.
Any settlement or award in the case will now be divided
among the victims.
Attorney Bill Marler, nationally recognized food safety
attorney and managing partner of the Seattle-based law firm Marler-Clark, will
take over the case, according to an article by Produce News available here.
The lawsuit filed by the Jensens against PrimusLabs
sought five claims for relief: negligence, breach of contract, negligent hire,
negligent misrepresentations, and unfair and deceptive trade practices.
Marler said several lawsuits have been filed on behalf
of victims in 16 states, with a total of 20 lawsuits filed in Colorado.
In addition to PrimusLabs, retailers including Walmart,
Kroger, and Frontera Produced have been named as parties in the lawsuits.
Marler said this case is “sending shockwaves through
the produce industry.” Marler said that
“the third-party auditing industry has evolved largely unregulated. Historically, the meat industry had
inspectors in every plant. On the FDA
side, that’s not the culture they grew up in.”
The Jensens have pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor
counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Possible penalties include up to six years in
prison and $1.5 million in fines. A
sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 28, according to a CBS Denver article
available here.
For more information on food safety, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
