To sue or not to sue?
 

Last week (May 6th) I took my wife out for dinner to a local restaurant before I had to leave town on business. I left the next day (May 7th) checked in to the motel, etc. Everything was fine.

Well in the middle of the night I came down with flu like symptoms, no fever, and was really sick for a couple of days. Anyways, after I got severely dehydrated/fatigued laying around in my motel room I finally drove myself to the ER for help. They hooked me up to an IV gave me meds and sent me on my way a couple hours later. I was back to work by Wednesday, but no where near 100%. I felt more like myself one full week later (May 13).

Here's where it gets interesting. I pick up the paper Saturday morning (May 13) and the restaurant we ate at is on the front page of the paper with close to 300 reported cases at the health dept for the same illness for the same time I ate there. The restaurant is closed for cleaning and sanitizing everything. I reported my case to the health dept on-line Sunday.

The wife was fine. She didn't get it. Thank God. So, now she and her cousin want me to sue. I'm not a sue type person but I see her point on their negligence.

So here are my questions (Lawyers):
What are my chances of winning?
Go alone or wait for a class action thing to come around?
What amount is a reasonable amount to ask for?
If this happened to you would you sue?

What exactly will you gain by suing?

Were you irreparably harmed in some way?

It's this sort of opportunistic cash grab that's made our tort system such a mess, and has driven insurance costs through the roof.

don't bother to sue. don't ever eat there again and warn all your friends.

If it was a direct result of what they did, perhaps just the medical bills, if you like to eat at the resteraunt though - don't sue.

I'm unsure of how exactly it would of spread, it might not of been their fault, or whatever, I just don't know. :)

Money, no, and I know. That's why I'm having a hard time with this because I'm not a sue type person. So I thought I'd see what the collective wisdom here had to say about it.

I would contact the restaurant directly for reimbursement of medical costs. The way I see it, they should cover the real costs you incurred, not make you independently wealthy.

Chances are, the restaurant is either independent or a franchise. Suing would probably force them to close their doors, and probably wouldn't win you much money....much less after the lawyers extract their fee (30% - 50%).

+1 to Thom

You won't win anything. Your lawyer(s), on the other hand, will do quite nicely.

Glad you're feeling better, food poisoning sucks.

You have no reason to sue them. They did no irreparable harm to you and I am guessing your insurance company paid for all your medical bills. If that is not the case you can ask the restaurant to cover your medical costs and see what they say. If they refuse then you might have a small claims case, but it probably isn't worth your while.

If you give into the temptation to try and grab some cash then you join the millions of selfish Americans who are sucking this country dry for personal gain. Food poisoning happens, sounds like this restaurant had an issue and is dealing with it. They are probably being fined by the health department anyway.

Do the honorable thing and move on with your life.

Suing isn't the first thing that crosses my mind but I have to many lawyers in my family. That is where the real pressure to sue is coming from. Any of them would do it free of charge as they already said they would.

IF I do decide to ask for anything it would be to cover my expenses and pay for my time off work. That's it. I'm not looking to shut down the place or become a millionaire. I have health insurance and I used sick days so there isn't a lot in expenses to even worry about. That's why I don't think suing is really worth it.

This is good cause you guys are supporting my side of the argument.

Don't sue. Only the lawyers and insurance win.

Here's the link to the news article of the restaurant:

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060513/NEWS01/605130333/1002/ARCHIVES

So they'd be doing it pro-bono. In my opinion, cases that are taken on by plaintiff's attorneys pro-bono are then used as advertising for future cases.

Example: "I think you have a case. I was able to win a similar case and get the plaintiff $500,000 in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. Though in your case I'm not sure about what precedents exist...I'll have to do some research ($) and it may take a few years of litigation ($$) to finally win. Of course, this is above an beyond what I normally do so I will ask you to support me when I request a larger fee from the judge ($$$)."

taken from the link......
"It had eight critical violations in December. Four of them had to do with food handling. There were 36 critical violations in May 2005, five of which had to do with food."



is that a high count of violations? i would only sue if the culprit of the sickness was not properly addressed from a prior violation.......and it would only be for lost time/expenses.

I doubt that a lawyer would sue them only for lost time and expenses. If you look at this scenario, it sounds like he was out of work for 2 days. Now he didn't really lose any wages unless he works on an hourly basis, he would simply take the sick leave.

That leaves you with medical expenses. Assuming that he got zero help from his insurance his medical bill might be somewhere in the $1000 range for a visit to the ED.

No lawyer is going to go through the trouble of taking this case for $1000. They will likely insist on adding in some pain and suffering or other BS to get the number higher so their cut is higher.

Don't sue man. Don't give in to the cancer that is eating this country alive.

If you auntie Mae cooked the food at the family picnic and you got sick, would you sue her?

***** happens.

Exactly.

Why does Wal-Mart get sued so often?

Why do insurance companies get sued so often?

When capital is concentrated, people want at it.

Hey Bill,
That sucks!!!! You seemed fine when you stopped by my house.
Trust me, the rest. will go through a thorough inspection fro mthe health dept. We work with them all of the time for our dining locations.
If it was me, I would only make them pay for your medical and lost time.
I'm not big on lawsuits in most cases.
Either way, I hope you are feeling better.

There is absolutely no way I would sue if I was in your position.

Re: To sue or not to sue?
 

The fact that you are even considering it suggests otherwise.

I disagree. If you're running a food business and you have THAT many violations, you don't know WTF you're doing.

I agree on not suing, but comparing the two isn't appropriate.

Re: Re: To sue or not to sue?
 

I have NEVER sued anyone for anything! It's just that the people I know around me (lawyers) all are pressuring me to sue. They do make good arguments and they are convincing. Therefore the consideration. But when it comes right down to it I wouldn't have gone through with it. That's just out of Character for me. I guess I just needed to hear people take my side and build my confidence to fight off the dogs...

Go to them with copies of the medical bills. Ask for repayment of this and possibly a dinner or such for the family. If they balk then its time to ask how much trouble you want to go to with this.

Um, in the form of a gift certificate at a different restaurant..

rjp

Re: Re: Re: To sue or not to sue?
 

Don't we all want to make quick money so i won't be surprised if you are tempted to do that..Any way Lawyers are general are like VULTURES and in this case they are looking to make some quick bucks..I am sure no restaurant would want to fight this type of case as it would be even more bad publicity for them,so go tell your VULTURE friends to get a LIFE..
As other people here mentioned,present the rest management with your out of pocket expenses and give them a chance to make up for it...remember **** happens..

When I was a graduate student in microbiology, one of my fellow students got a NASTY case of food poisoning at a local eatery. His approach? The talked with the owner and was given access to the kitchen staff and he taught them about proper food handling and food bacteriology. After that he pretty much ate for free there which was a big deal for a grad student.

Mabye a veggie picker took a dump in a storage bin.

Re: Re: Re: To sue or not to sue?
 

And that's where we get multi-million dollar settlements for spilled coffee from.

And they probably have Dr. Nick lined up already to give testimony on how your digestive tract is now spiralling into a deep and morbid depression.

From a legal perspective, you would have the burden of proving the elements of negligence in order to win a judgment against the restaurant.

*Does the restaurant have a duty of care towards its guests?
YES - they have a duty to act prudently in preventing illness or injury in the operation of their business

*Was there a breach of this duty in this case?
MAYBE - unclear from the article. You would have to prove the specific act that constituted the breach of duty of care

*Did the act directly cause the harm?
YES - it seems clear that whatever took place in the restaurant caused your illness

*Damages?
YES - mainly medical costs incurred

This is the analysis we learned in law school. In reality your attorney would indeed have to prove these elements, so it's no slam dunk, but the cost to you in time, aggravation and money would not nearly be worth it. Personally, I value my time too much to get bogged down in something like this.

You got food poisoning, it happens, so just let it go.

The restaurant closed voluntarily, threw everything out, and is deep cleaning now while trying to figure out what happened. Sounds like they are doing the right thing.

Your insurance paid for health care, you got sick leave from work, and you are now fine.

I say leave it alone. Don't be one of those people. I still get pissed whenever I get a coffee to go and the cup carries a warning about the hot contents, because it reminds me of the case that made such an asinine warning necessary. And it's getting worse, not better.

quote: "Your insurance paid for health care, you got sick leave from work, and you are now fine."

Under a republican plan, you might as well become a homeless vagrant.
Under a democrat plan, everyone can not work by signing a piece of paper.

We made it two pages!

I declare shenanigans. Everyone get their broom!

Not speaking for all attorneys, but this one would say just try to work it out with the restaurant. Nobody ever said I was normal or logical though. ;)

I do have social friends who are lawyers, and it's not by accident.

I think you should sue.

Sure, you won’t get much money. Heck, odds are you won’t get any at all. But the lawyers can start a class-action suit. THEY'LL make money.


Just think. The restaurant will fold. A bunch of people will be unemployed. The proprietor’s dreams will be crushed. The owner’s insurance will have to pay out big bucks. All the lawyers will all get new Caymens, and you'll get $150!

Woo Ho! It’s good to make the laws! :rolleyes:

of course a lawyer would say SUE. they get paid no matter what the outcome. and they want to drag it out as long as possible, years if possible. time is money.

that's what's wrong with the legal system... the only winners are scumbag lawyers.

Loser pays. It's a concept that's long overdue...

http://www.overlawyered.com/topics/lpays.html

It's only 99% of the lawyers that give the rest a bad rep

Sure sue for pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of work, reimbursment of medical costs work expenses, loss of ira contribution time, loss of time for enjoying the porsche, loss of time from your family and friends, incompetence of food workers, sue the health department, the city, the state, the country and last and least mr bush himself because you were inconvenienced. Can I sue you for having to read such a dumb post about what should be common sense to 99.9999% of the population. When your done sue me because I had some fun at your sickness. Look at the bright side you could be dead and it could be your wife asking this question for real.

I am a lawyer (for 13 years, no longer practice, having moved on to more interesting work) and I'd suggest you not sue.

It sounds like you have no damages worth any successful lawyer's time. You'd end up with a two-bit guy, get sent to a crooked doc for an "expert consultation", waste your time, and in the end get little to no money.

Just as important, to me, is that lawsuits consume the public's time and money (judicial system) so you're essentially wasting your taxpayer dollars.

It would be sensible to contact the local health dept and give them the facts of your case. That will help them come down on this restaurant and make sure they clean up their act, so to speak.

I have encouraged people to sue, where it was warranted. One friend of mine, his sister was on a cruise and suffered some sort of stroke/heart attack (I forget the details). The cruise ship had no competent medical staff, contrary to their claims, they did nothing to summon medical help or arrange air evac back to the States, they just dropped the paralyzed woman at some half-baked local clinic in the first Carribean port they came to, and sailed away. She ended up with severe brain damage. Her career as a doctor is over, she's spent the last two years learning to walk and speak again. Her family was reluctant to sue, they were focused on taking care of their sister. But they finally did take legal action. That's the kind of situation that merits a lawsuit.

You have a problem with your family, not a problem with food poisoning.