Nearly two decades ago — as the government’s ability to track, identify and solve foodborne illness outbreaks became more and more robust — we saw an incredible increase in the number of lawsuits being brought against food companies. As the numbers of foodborne illness cases increased, those of us experienced in defending companies against these claims opined that foodborne illness litigation would soon outpace claims being asserted for tobacco and asbestos exposure. We were right.
Every day, for nearly a decade, foodborne illness lawsuit after foodborne illness lawsuit was filed. The success of a few plaintiffs’ lawyers attracted others. Soon, there were thousands of plaintiffs’ lawyers across the United States claiming to be “expert” food poisoning attorneys. Some were good, but most were novices. And we defense lawyers always had an arsenal of arguments to keep them at bay.