A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit involving a Nebraska meat processor’s claim that Salem Lutheran Church in Longville, Minnesota should be held responsible for tainted meatballs served at a church buffet. In July 2006, Carolyn Hawkinson died and Ellie Wheeler became seriously ill after eating beef meatballs allegedly contaminated with E. coli bacteria. At least 15 other people were also sickened.

In the litigation, Leatha Wolter of Meagher & Geer represented the church. The settlement resolves the claims against Nebraska Beef Ltd., and others involved in producing, distributing and selling the beef. Nebraska Beef had counter-sued the church. Ms. Wolter said, “The end of the lawsuit is a relief to the church, which maintained it did nothing wrong.” The case received media attention for its blame spreading tactics, and for the “unusual but not unprecedented [move] for a meat company to sue the victims.” On that approach, plaintiff Stanton Hawkinson, the widower of Carolyn Hawkinson, commented in an article in a June 8, 2008 article in the New York Times, “To think that [Nebraska Beef] can put out a contaminated product and then go after the people who prepared it.”  The meat industry and federal regulators have long tried to shift responsibility for food safety to consumers, but the settlement of this lawsuit didn’t support that.

The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the E. coli 0157:H7 variant sickens about 73,000 people and kills 61 each year in the United States. More broadly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 76 million foodborne illness cases occur in the United States every year. This amounts to one in four Americans becoming ill after eating foods contaminated with such pathogens as E. coli, Salmonella, and Hepatitis A.