The first lawsuit has been filed as a
result of an E. coli outbreak on the Fond du Lac Lake Superior
Chippewa reservation near Cloquet earlier this summer.
Band member Bob Danielson has sued
Jim-N-Jo’s Northland Katering, which provided the food at three
events in July at which people got sick, including an elder’s picnic.
Danielson, 62, said he was hospitalized for a day.
He filed suit Aug. 28 in state court
in Carlton County and is seeking compensation for medical expenses
and loss of wages.
"I thought somebody needs to call
some attention to this," Danielson said. "Put the fear in
somebody, or make sure that things are done right from here on out
before somebody gets dead."
The Minnesota Department of Health is
investigating whether it came from ingredients in a potato salad that
Danielson ate at an elder’s picnic, where 20 to 60 people likely
became ill.
The owner of the catering company
declined to comment.
Danielson’s attorney, Bill Marler,
said E. coli 0157 is a deadly pathogen.
"It shouldn’t be in our food,"
Marler said. "And it certainly shouldn’t be in potato salad at
an elder’s picnic."
Also in July, 15 people in Minnesota
were also sickened by a different strain of E. coli that was traced
to several Applebee’s restaurants. A lawsuit has also been filed in
that case.
Minnesota Public Radio News can be
heard on MPR’s statewide radio network or online at
