Boar's Head lawsuits filed in two states over listeria outbreak

Consumers in two states who purchased Boar’s Head deli products that were recalled due to listeria have filed suit against the meat company, which is headquartered in Sarasota. 

One customer has proposed a class-action lawsuit. Another suit involves a woman who was hospitalized as a result of eating meat infected with listeria. 

Boar’s Head officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boar’s Head first recalled liverwurst on July 26 due to the potential for listeria; on July 30, it expanded the recall to include about 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products that came from its facility in Jarratt, Virginia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Listeria are bacteria that can contaminate food. People who ingest listeria can become infected with listeriosis, which may cause muscle aches, flu-like symptoms, confusion, seizures, fever and headaches, according to the CDC. Listeriosis is especially dangerous for those over 65 and pregnant women.

There have been 34 illnesses, including 33 hospitalizations and two deaths, as a result of the listeria outbreak, which sickened people from the end of May through mid-July, according to the CDC. The deaths occurred in New Jersey and Illinois, the CDC reports. Florida did not report any infections.

Twelve of the people who became ill from the listeria outbreak were in New York, according to the CDC.

Rita J. Torres of Queens County, New York, filed a class-action complaint Aug. 1 against Boar’s Head of Sarasota. Torres purchased Boar’s Head ham at a ShopRite store in New York for $11.54 that possibly contained listeria and was part of the recall, according to the lawsuit. She alleges the deli meat company engaged in false advertising by not disclosing on the packaging that there was listeria in the meat, which rendered it worthless.

There are “thousands of consumers … who have been damaged by the defendant’s deceptive and misleading practices,” according to the class action lawsuit. It seeks to provide statutory damages of $50 per transaction for deceptive acts, $500 per transaction for false advertising as well as legal fees, among others. More than $5 million in damages are estimated overall in the class-action lawsuit.

That is not the only lawsuit Boar’s Head is facing as a result of the listeria outbreak and recall.

Sue and Patrick Fleming of High Ridge, Missouri, filed a personal injury lawsuit in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Boar’s Head Provisions Co. (registered agent for the Sarasota company) in Wilmington, Delaware, and Schnuck Markets of St. Louis, Missouri, over contaminated deli meat that put Sue Fleming in the hospital. She was among the 34 people the CDC identified that became sickened as a result of the listeria outbreak, according to the lawsuit.

Initially, Patrick Fleming bought Boar's Head liverwurst from Schnuck Markets, which his wife consumed. Around July 4, she “fell deathly ill” and “was hospitalized with a confirmed listeriosis infection,” the lawsuit says. Sue Fleming was hospitalized for nine days and spent 11 days at a rehabilitation center working to get back to health, since she was “extremely weak and impaired” due to the listeriosis even after her release from the hospital, according to the lawsuit. She “continues to suffer from the effects of her infection, including an array of neurological symptoms, fatigue and overall weakness,” the lawsuit says.

The Flemings allege there was a manufacturing defect, negligence and breach of implied warranty on the part of Boar’s Head and Schnuck and that Patrick Fleming suffered loss of consortium because of his wife’s illness. They are seeking more than $25,000 for costs including medical expenses, pain and suffering and legal fees, among others, according to the suit, which was filed July 26.