ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Legal Newsline) – A Virginia woman who became ill due to an E. coli infection from allegedly consuming a brand of soy nut butter has filed a lawsuit against the seller and distributors of the product.
Jamie Hunstad filed a complaint on Sept. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Target Corp., KeHE Distributors LLC, KeHE Distributors Inc., KeHE Enterprises LLC, World Finer Foods Inc. and World Finer Foods LLC alleging negligence and other counts.
The plaintiff is suing the defendants in connection with her consumption of allegedly E. coli-contaminated I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter when she was a minor child in late 2016. She alleges she was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication from an E. coli infection, and was hospitalized in December 2016. She alleges the condition damaged her kidneys and she may need a transplant in the future.
The suit states the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked a multistate E. coli outbreak to the soy butter in March 2017 and the FDA found "grossly unsanitary conditions" at the facility where it was produced. A recall was initiated the same month.
The suit states the I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter she consumed was purchased at Target and was supplied to Target by the KeHE and World Finer defendants.
The plaintiff is seeking trial by jury, attorneys' fees, court costs, interest, actual damages and just relief. The plaintiff is represented by Jason W. Konvicka and Ashley T. Davis of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen in Richmond, Virginia, and William D. Marler of Marler Clark LLP in Seattle.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia case number 1:19-cv-01155