The parents of a Davis County boy who became sickened with E. coli filed a lawsuit on Thursday against National Steak and Poultry, an Oklahoma meat-manufacturing facility involved in a nationwide food recall.
Salt Lake City attorney Dustin Lance said the lawsuit is the first legal action stemming from an outbreak that sickened 21 people in 16 states.
The 14-year-old boy, identified only as "CD," experienced severe E. coli symptoms after consuming the infected meat in October, according to the suit filed in 3rd District Court. His parents rushed him to Columbia Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, where he was diagnosed with gastrointestinal bleeding. He was taken to Primary Children's Medical Center and remained hospitalized for two days.
The lawsuit also names as yet unidentified "John Doe" companies that may have been involved in distributing the meat products.
The recall was announced on Christmas Eve, attorneys say. It included 248,000 pounds of beef products potentially contaminated with E. coli, a toxic pathogen. Most of the suspected meat was distributed to restaurants.
The outbreak purportedly sickened people in Utah, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Washington state. Most fell ill between mid October and late November; nine were hospitalized.
