There are several things an attorney must prove in all food poisoning claims for you to receive compensation. When food is contaminated with a microbe, it is considered contaminated. Your attorney must prove that the food you ate was contaminated, that the contamination made you sick, and that your sickness caused you direct harm. As a result, you lost income, had to pay for medical expenses, and experienced pain and suffering.
Pinpointing Food Source
For your food poisoning claim to succeed, you must determine the food that made you sick. For example, were the raw eggs used to make your dessert? Or did you eat some contaminated romaine lettuce in your salad? Notice any delays in experiencing symptoms. Notice how many hours went by before you began to experience symptoms and if you ate any other meals between that time.
The defendant or restaurant will probably try to argue that your illness was caused by something else, so be prepared. They may suggest that your symptoms are due to a stomach virus or a virus you picked up from your pets, children, etc. Fortunately, the attorneys defending your case are ready to deal with such arguments from the defendant.
Take notes as soon as you start to feel symptoms of food poisoning or suspect you are developing a case of it. The more details you can jot down, the more helpful it will be for your case. Finding the exact food source is probably the easiest step in the process. Furthermore, you may want to check in with any friends or family that ate dinner with you to see if anyone else experienced any symptoms. Record your conversation with them or have them email you the details.
Gathering Evidence & Proving a Food Contamination Case
This is not a step that you have to complete on your own. You can begin by contacting our local health department to see if there have been any recent outbreaks. Additionally, you’ll want to hire a lawyer and file a claim. Your attorney can then retrieve the necessary documents, speak with restaurant managers and other staff, and ask questions about the food served to you.
Furthermore, you must prove that food contamination directly caused your illness. Small amounts of contamination present in food don’t always make people sick. You may also have picked up bacteria from a different source.
One of the best ways to prove food poisoning is to visit your medical provider and provide a blood, urine, or stool sample. These samples can easily be tested for food poisoning. If your samples do some back and show that they contain a disease-causing microbe found in your food, this will help your claim even more. You can also request a letter or records from your physician showing a food poisoning diagnosis. Finally, you can have any leftovers you brought home and tested for contamination.
Who is Responsible for Giving Me Food Poisoning?
With any product liability case, you should ensure that you include all parties involved in the distribution chain
. This means that every person who had something to do with manufacturing and distributing the product should be included. With food poisoning cases, the source of contamination must be traced. Any person involved in the chain of distribution could be held liable.
The distribution chain comprises the restaurant or grocery store, the suppliers, wholesalers, and distributors.
