Somerville Resident Sues Trader Joe’s After E. Coli Hospitalization

SOMERVILLE, MA — A resident has filed a federal lawsuit against a national grocery chain, saying that a contaminated chicken salad wrap left her hospitalized with E. coli.

Meaghan Egan Bright, of Somerville, and Gayle Gottlieb, of Pembroke, North Carolina, are suing Trader Joe’s Company in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Both women contracted E. coli after eating Tarragon Chicken Salad Wraps purchased at separate stores in late August, according to their attorneys at Marler Clark.

Bright purchased a wrap at a Trader Joe’s store in Allston on Aug. 24 and ate it that day. She began feeling ill on Aug. 27 and sought treatment at Cambridge Health Alliance on Aug. 30 after developing bloody diarrhea, according to the firm.

She was initially sent home but called an ambulance after the vomiting and bloody diarrhea continued. Bright was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was hospitalized from Aug. 31 through Sept. 6 with what she described to her attorneys as the worst pain she had ever experienced.

Testing confirmed a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection, and physicians warned Bright that she was at risk of developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication that can cause kidney failure, the firm said. Her attorneys added that the Somerville Board of Health and Massachusetts Department of Public Health told her she was part of a multistate outbreak.

“Both are working adults who bought a sealed, ready-to-eat meal from a national grocery chain, trusting it was safe to eat,” Marler Clark attorney Ilana Korchia said. “They did nothing wrong. Now, the food they once trusted is food they’re afraid to eat.”

Gottlieb purchased three of the same wraps at a Trader Joe’s store in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Aug. 23 and ate one on Aug. 27, according to the firm. She later developed severe abdominal cramping and bloody diarrhea, made two emergency department visits, and was hospitalized.

Her attorneys said laboratory testing confirmed an E. coli infection and North Carolina health officials classified her as a confirmed outbreak case. The firm said public health records identified a wrap from Trader Joe’s as the source of her illness.

The Food and Drug Administration currently lists 50 illnesses in an ongoing E. coli O157:H7 outbreak involving suspected multi-ingredient chicken wraps. The agency’s public listing does not identify Trader Joe’s or a specific brand as the source.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said the wraps identified through the investigation are past their shelf life and no longer available for purchase. Investigators are working to identify the contaminated ingredient and determine whether it was used in other products.

The lawsuit includes claims of strict product liability, negligence, negligence per se, and breach of implied warranty, and requests a jury trial.

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