Right down the street from the same Taco Bell here in NJ.
March 9, 2006, 4:12 pm
The Case of the Bennigan’s Caesar Salad
Posted by Peter Lattman
“Did Caesar salad kill a healthy teen?” asks a headline in today’s Newark Star-Ledger. Though not quite comparable to the case of the flying shrimp (see posts here and here), here is yet another case that will transport you back to your first-year torts class (think Palsgraf). A two-week trial begins today in a New Jersey federal court brought by the family of a girl who got sick — allegedly from eating a Caesar Salad at her local Bennigan’s — and died three years later.
Here are the tragic facts, according to the Star-Ledger story:
* In June 1999, Tara Winnicki had just finished final exams and headed to the local Bennigan’s with a group of friends to celebrate the end of the school year. She ate a Caesar salad and drank a Dr Pepper. One of her friends ate a Caesar salad with chicken.
* The next morning, the 16-year-old from North Brunswick, N.J., woke up feeling sick to her stomach, but she still got into the family car for a roadtrip to Florida.
* The trip came to halt in Virginia when Tara became violently ill. Within two days, she was hospitalized with kidney failure, apparently the result of food poisoning that left her severely dehydrated. (Though no one else in her dining party got sick.)
* Over the next three years, Tara’s health continued to deteriorate. She underwent a kidney transplant, which ultimately failed. All the while, her family racked up $800,000 in medical bills. Tara died in December 2003.
The girl’s family says the Caesar Salad caused her death and filed a civil lawsuit against the restaurant chain. Lawyers for Bennigan’s deny the allegations and say there is no evidence to suggest the meal she ate caused her illness.
Very sad story. That is the part of the story for these outbreaks that we usually don't hear, the long term effects. A very good friend of mine had E. Coli about 13 years ago; it was the first time that I learned first hand about this dangerous bacteria. She had last rights, and was not expected to live. Amazingly, even her doctors considered her recovery truly miraculous, she did survive; after months in the hospital and a few years additional recovery. She now has two children, and no lingering health effects.