Richey Class Reunion E. coli Outbreak Lawsuit

Our law firm is investigating an outbreak of E. coli O157 linked to the Richey Centennial Event & All Class Reunion sickened at least forty people from ten states. In Montana, people from 6 different counties got sick.

E coli
This is a clump of E. coli O157 bacteria. Even with all of these cells bound together, this is still too small to see with the human eye. Now consider that ingesting only 10 of these cells can kill someone. It is a bit frightening.

Seven of the people diagnosed with E. coli food poisoning were hospitalized.

The event was held from July 15 to 17, 2016. Health investigators found that all of the people who became ill consumed the evening meal served at Richey High School on July 16, the last meal of the event. This meal was catered. The investigation is now focusing on how this meal became contaminated with deadly bacteria.

To help with the investigation, the Dawson County Health Department put an online questionnaire on the department’s website. This helped them know what people at the event ate, both those who are part of the outbreak and those who did not get E. coli.

The outbreak was investigated by the Dawson County Health Department and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

It is unclear exactly how food provided by a local caterer got contaminated with deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. There are only two feasible scenarios: a food product was contaminated before it was purchased by the caterer for consumption at the event or a menu item for the event got contaminated from another source when the caterer prepared the food. In most cases like this, it happened on the field or in a processing plant.

There is some information about this outbreak on the Richey Class Reunion Facebook page.

As of the date this end note is being written, June 15, 2017, there is still time to contact our law firm about your legal rights. 

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Category: Food Poisoning
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