Personal injury comes in many forms. While most people think
of accidents and assaults, it also includes more unusual injuries, such as food
poisoning. If you've been affected by a bout of food poisoning linked to a food
provider, you may be able to seek compensation in the form of a personal injury
claim.
Food poisoning claims, though, can be tricky to prove and to
receive just compensation for. What can help you decide if you should pursue
your case? Here are five good indicators that it may be the right move.
1. You Can Clearly Trace the Incident
The most difficult part of most food poisoning injury cases
is proving with reasonable certainty that the restaurant or food provider
caused your illness. Even if you feel ill after eating from a particular
restaurant, their lawyers will argue that you can't prove with complete
certainty that their meal was the cause.
The more clearly you can prove a link to the food service
company, the better your chances. If you brought leftovers home, for instance,
you may be able to have them tested to determine which transmissible bacteria
was involved. And if your attorney can quickly work to get samples from the
restaurant to match to your own diagnosis, the chain will be stronger.
2. You Had Significant Medical Issues
As with most personal injury claims, you should make sure
that the potential compensation is sufficient to warrant the effort of a court
case. Unfortunately, this generally means that you got sick enough to end up in
the hospital, suffer long-term consequences, lose wages, or end up with
significant medical expenses.
Improve your chances of due compensation by keeping track of
all expenses related to your food poisoning. This includes hospital and doctor
bills, therapy, home health aids, lost income, travel expenses, and the cost to
hire help if you're unable to do certain tasks.
3. Other People Became Sick
If you were the only one in your group to become ill after a
meal or after buying food from a vendor, showing cause may be challenging. The
restaurant might argue that you didn't properly refrigerate or store your
leftovers, for instance. If you all ate together, it might claim, your lone
illness might be the result of something unrelated.
The best case, then, comes when you can demonstrate in court
that others experienced the same sickness. This may be easy if you were part of
a group activity. It's more difficult if you want to talk with other patrons,
though. If you engage a personal injury attorney early, they may be able to
help investigate whether other patrons can provide independent
corroboration.
4. It's Part of an Outbreak
Outbreaks of disease linked to certain foods provide some of
the best personal injury cases. Outbreaks are usually publicized, so you can
more easily prove a connection to the offending food item. And much of the work
in determining the cause of the illnesses has already been done. So, all you
may need to do is establish through genetic testing that your illness fits the
pattern.
5. Staff Is Involved
Many restaurant and food handling cases of poisoning are
linked to sick workers. This can bolster your case because it makes the chain
of transmission more likely and more easily demonstrated. Certainly, if a
number of food items the worker touched are all contaminated, you may have a
better case under the law of strict liability. And the employer may be liable
if they ignored the illness.
Does your particular case of food poisoning fit any of these
criteria? Then you may have a good chance of winning the compensation you need
to fully recover. Find out more about food-related personal injury claims in
Texas by meeting with the legal team at the Law Offices of Janice Maloney
today.
