Outbreak victim to sue farm, fair

As the St. Petersburg Times reported today, Marler Clark is representing an Orlando resident who contracted an E. coli infection after attending the Central Florida State Fair in Orlando, as well as Diana Walters, 48, who became ill with the symptoms of E. coli infection six days after visiting an Ag-Venture Farms petting zoo at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City.
As I told the Times, the lawsuit will name Ag-Venture Farms as well as the Strawberry Festival, because we anticipate that Ag-Venture Farms alone won’t have enough insurance to compensate the victims of the outbreak.
Last month, state officials said they had traced the source of the bacterial outbreak to two sheep, two goats and a cow at Ag-Venture Farms. Those animals, along with the rest of the herd at Ag-Venture Farms, will be quarantined for the rest of their lives, officials told Times reporters, adding that the farm has 37 animals.
Statewide, 30 people were confirmed to have been infected, and 50 more are suspected cases, according to state Health Department spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges. The sick experienced bouts of diarrhea after attending either the Florida Strawberry Festival, the Florida State Fair near Tampa or the Central Florida fair in Orlando. Some developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially fatal kidney disease.