Simon & Luke and Gomez Iagmin File Fifth Hepatitis Lawsuit Against Townsend Farms and Costco in Los Angeles

SAN DIEGO, June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- National food safety law firm of Simon & Luke, with co-counsel Gomez & Iagmin, has filed a fifth California lawsuit stemming from a multi-state Hepatitis A outbreak linked to consumption of frozen berries manufactured by Oregon-based Townsend Farms and sold at Costco stores.

The lawsuit was filed against Townsend Farms and Costco Corporation in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California on behalf of 52-year old Burbank, California resident Greg Patterson. Mr. Patterson consumed Townsend Farms Organic Anti-Oxidant Blend berries he had purchased at a Costco store in Burbank. During the first week of May, he began to suffer severe flu-like symptoms, including fatigue, jaundice, dark colored urine, discolored stools, dehydration, chest pains, nausea, and vomiting. On May 13, 2013 he was seen at his local doctor's office, where blood tests were performed. He was instructed to return home to drink lots of fluids, maintain bed rest, and undergo scheduled blood testing. A few days later, he was informed that he had tested positive for Hepatitis A. Doctors ordered him to undergo an ultrasound and MRI.

Greg was thereafter notified by the Los Angeles County Health Department that his illness was linked to the Hepatitis A outbreak from consumption of Townsend Farms frozen berries purchased from Costco. He continues to experience jaundice and severe fatigue. He is still receiving medical treatment, including serial blood tests. He has lost 20 pounds and missed one month from work as a result of his illness.

Mr. Patterson is one of at least 99 victims in 8 states who contracted Hepatitis A after consuming frozen Townsend Farm berries. The victims are located in California, Colorado, Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Washington.

Per the CDC website, Hepatitis A is spread when food or drink contaminated by feces of an infected person is ingested by mouth.

Simon & Luke and Gomez Iagmin filed the first Hepatitis A lawsuit in the United States against Townsend Farms and Costco in Los Angeles on June 3 on behalf of a 51-year old resident of Lakewood, California. Immediately thereafter, Townsend Farms issued a recall of the tainted berries. The firms have now filed four more lawsuits in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties.

Prior to the lawsuits, Costco had already begun notifying customers to discard the product, despite Townsend Farms' refusal to acknowledge the link between the frozen berry mix and Hepatitis A illnesses. That process is still not complete.

Ron Simon, counsel for Mr. Patterson, issued the following statement today: "Costco and Townsend Farms' delay in telling consumers that their berries contained human feces is inexcusable. Our lawsuits will uncover why that delay occurred so it does not happen again."

John H. Gomez, co-counsel, affirms "Californians deserve safe food. In case after case, we fight hard to ensure that it is."

Simon & Luke currently represents dozens of victims involved in this outbreak, and anticipates filing many more lawsuits in the coming weeks.

About Ron Simon and Simon & Luke

Simon & Luke's groundbreaking work on behalf of victims in several recent outbreaks (Peter Pan peanut butter, Castleberry's chili, Nestle cookie dough, Peanut Corporation of America Peanut products, JBS Swift beef, Daniele salami, Subway sandwiches, Wright County Egg / Hillandale Farms eggs, Cargill ground turkey, Agromod papayas, Moon Marine sushi, and Firefly tapas, to name a few) have been featured on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and virtually all other major television networks and print media.

The firm has represented over 5000 victims of food-borne outbreaks in the past five years alone, and has collected over $550,000,000 for its clients.

The firm regularly publishes articles about food safety and litigation at www.myfoodpoisoninglawyer.com, which are read by viewers in over 175 countries worldwide.

About Gomez Iagmin

Gomez Iagmin Trial Attorneys out of San Diego have represented victims of a wide variety of food borne illnesses. We have been involved in virtually every national food borne illness outbreak over the last 5 years, including Peter Pan peanut butter, Castleberry's chili, Nestle cookie dough, Kellogg crackers, Subway sandwiches, Wright County Egg/Hillandale Farms eggs, and Jensen Farms cantaloupe.

For more information about the Gomez Iagmin, please visit www.gomeziagmin.com

SOURCE Gomez Iagmin Trial Attorneys