Meat Industry INSIGHTS Newsletter

971020 U.S. Court Allows Safeway Hamburger Suit

October 6, 1997

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme CourtMonday allowed Safeway Inc.'smeat processing unit to file an inter-state lawsuit against a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant franchise over a deadly 1993 outbreak of hamburger-related food poisoning.

The case stemmed from incidents of illnesses in several Western states, including Washington, due to E. coli bacteria traced to hamburgers sold at certain Jack-in-the-Box fast-food restaurants. Jack-in-the-Box is a division of Foodmaker Inc.

Three children died and about 500 people became ill in the outbreak.

Foodmaker blamed the contamination on its meat suppliers, including Safeway unit Vons Companies Inc., which processed hamburger patties for use in the restaurants.

Eighty-five franchisees from California and other states, whose customers did not become sick, filed a suit in California against Foodmaker, Vons and other meat processors seeking damages for loss of business after the outbreak.

Vons then filed its cross-complaint against Foodmaker and the owners of the franchise restaurants in Washington implicated in the outbreak.

Vons said in its suit that the outbreak could have been avoided if Foodmaker and its franchise restaurants had cooked the hamburgers sufficiently.

The franchise, known as Washington Restaurant Management Inc., replied that California courts lacked jurisdiction over them.

But the California Supreme Court ruled last year that the franchise had sufficient contacts with the state to justify jurisdiction over them.

The franchise then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and to rule in its favor, but the justices sided with the Safeway unit and rejected the appeal without comment or dissent.

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