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Court dismisses suit over E. coli outbreak

Scott Maben of the Register-Guard has also reported on the dismissed Lane County fair lawsuit.
Each family could have recovered as much as $200,000 from the fair board and the county under a state liability cap for government agencies.
From the article:

Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure dismissed the suit Oct. 5. The case was scheduled to go to trial Tuesday and might have taken eight weeks.
Among the 82 people who grew ill after attending the fair, 12 children were treated at Portland hospitals for hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially fatal complication of E. coli infection that causes kidney failure.
Public health investigators traced the fair outbreak to the sheep and goat exposition hall on the south side of the fairgrounds, but they could not determine exactly how people became infected.
“The Lane County Fair E. coli outbreak was very unique,” said Bob Wagner, a Portland attorney. “It has been studied intensely by scientists both nationally and internationally, and all of them have agreed that the reason the outbreak occurred is not known and will never be known.”
“There’s nothing scientifically that Lane County or the Lane County Fair could have done to have prevented the outbreak,” Wagner said.
All but one family agreed to drop the suit and not sue again. Cinnamon Howard, whose son Tyson Howard-Nettles was infected, reserves her right to refile a suit.

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