Parasites In Salad Found To Be The Cause Of Man’s Mystery Illness

Confidential Settlement

Rodney M. v. Grocery Store and Grower
Broward County, Florida
Attorney for Plaintiff: Robert M. Roselli

Robert M. Roselli represented Rodney M., a 50 year old man who developed abdominal pain, fevers, rashes and liver lesions caused by a parasite that local doctors were unable to identify or treat. After ten months, Rodney contacted a Harvard University Professor of Parasitic Diseases who asked the question no other doctor had: Did you eat watercress? Immediately, Rodney recalled that several weeks before he fell ill, he watched a TV show espousing the health benefits of watercress and began eating raw watercress salads bought from a local grocery store. The Harvard doctor performed a blood serum analysis that identified the culprit: fasciola hepatica. While extremely rare in the U.S. human population, this parasite is found in most Florida livestock that graze near waterways laden with watercress. Rodney was then treated with an anti-parasitic agent normally used in animals. After six months, his symptoms resolved and his labs returned to normal. For the suffering endured by Rodney M. a lawsuit was filed against the grocery store and the Palm Beach County grower. Ultimately, expert analysis revealed that the watercress farm contained all of the elements needed for this parasite to thrive, including an abundance of a particular snail species known to serve as an intermediary host for this parasite. In the words of one expert, it was a "snail graveyard". After three years of contentious litigation a settlement was reached before trial for $325,000.00.

See also: New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 346, Number 15

School Teacher Rendered Quadriplegic After Eating Contaminated Hot Dog – Then Dies

Confidential Settlement

Estate of Christine B. v. Meat Packing Plant
Okaloosa County, Florida
Attorney for Plaintiff: Robert M. Roselli

Christine B., a 57 year old school teacher was rendered a quadriplegic and ultimately died after nearly two (2) years and over $1 million in medical bills. She contracted Listeriosis from eating contaminated hot dogs and lunchmeats processed and sold by a large supermarket chain. Unlike other pathogens, listeria monocytogenes [LM] may not manifest symptoms for several weeks leading to a delayed diagnosis, long after the food product and packaging are gone. For that reason, LM cases are complex and costly, requiring complex expert analysis of the DNA (serotype) of the pathogen and the eating and shopping habits of the victim to establish the causal connection between the illness and the food product. Contentious litigation and discovery revealed that the processing plant had an alarming history of product contamination that was ignored by management so as to avoid a massive recall. The plant shipped over 1.7 million pounds of product to its supermarkets during this time and it was only after the lab tipped off the USDA that a massive recall was initiated. By then it was too late for Christine and the bacteria attacked and destroyed her cervical spinal cord. Christine was survived by three adult daughters who continue to be haunted by the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness while watching their mother suffer the nightmare of horrors of quadriplegia until she died. After over four years of litigation the case was settled for a substantial confidential sum.