Ill Girl's Family Sues Cargill

The parents of a 10-year-old girl from Mahtomedi, who became seriously ill after allegedly consuming E. coli-tainted beef patties filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit Tuesday against Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Art and Leah Hemmingson say their daughter, Ruth, was hospitalized for nearly a month last year with life-threatening complications associated with an E. coli infection. She will probably need a kidney transplant or dialysis to survive, they said.

The couple is seeking more than $4.3 million for past and future medical expenses, as well as unspecified damages for pain and suffering.

A spokeswoman for Minnetonka-based Cargill would not comment on the lawsuit. In October 2007, Cargill voluntarily recalled more than 840,000 pounds of ground beef patties after a number of Minnesota children who ate burgers made from the meat developed E. coli-related illnesses. The patties were distributed at Sam's Club stores nationwide.

Paul Downes, an attorney with Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey, which filed the lawsuit along with the Seattle law firm of Marler Clark, said the Hemmingsons bought a box of 18 frozen beef patties from a Sam's Club in White Bear Lake for a back-yard barbecue. The family ate just three of them. Downes said that after Ruth became sick, the Hemmingsons turned the meat over to the Minnesota Department of Health, which found it contaminated with E. coli.

Source: Star Tribune