Practice Areas

Food Allergy Lawsuits - Cross-Contamination

Food allergy lawsuits are filed by individuals who were exposed to a type of food in a meal or dish that they are allergic to and should not have been in the meal, such as peanuts. As a result, individuals may have a life-threatening allergic reaction after consuming the food.

Situations like this occur because restaurants or employees of the restaurants acted negligently. When restaurants and/or employees are negligent and cause harm to a customer, they may be liable for the customer’s injuries and damages.

One way a restaurant employee/waiter is negligent is serving a customer a dish that contains a type of food that he is allergic to, such as peanuts. After a customer informs a waiter that he is severely allergic to peanuts, the employee, for whatever reason, never checks with the chef to make sure the dish does not have peanuts in it. The customer then has a severe allergic reaction to the peanuts in the dish minutes after eating.

Another way a restaurant and/or its employee is negligent because of cross-contamination. Using the same example above where a customer is allergic to peanuts, his meal may still have peanuts in it even though the ingredients of the dish itself does not. The reason the dish has peanuts in it is because there was a cross-contamination of foods.

Cross contamination can occur when a cooking utensil or pot was used to make a dish with peanuts in it, but was not properly cleaned afterwards. The next dish that is made with the same cooking utensil or pot does not contain peanuts, but it is now contaminated with peanuts due to improper cleaning. A customer then suffers a severe allergic reaction to peanuts because his dish was contaminated with peanuts. This happened to a 12 year old boy last year died after eating a meal that was cross contaminated.

Legal Remedies After Severe Food Allergy Reactions

Individuals who suffer life-threatening allergic reactions may file lawsuits against the responsible parties to recover monetary damages such as:

medical expenses,
pain and suffering, and
lost wages.

In some cases, restaurants may have to change their food service policies and procedures to protect customers with food allergies.

Help Filing A Food Allergy Lawsuit

If you or a loved one suffered a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction at a restaurant due to someone’s mistake, call Daniel J. O’Brien to inquire about your legal rights. Mr. O’Brien is a seasoned personal injury lawyer and ALWAYS offers a FREE initial consultation. 877.944.8396

Daniel J. O'Brien and White and Williams serve clients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the following areas: Philadelphia, Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Lehigh County, Luzerne County, Cherry Hill, Trenton, Camden, Morris County, Essex County, Cape May County, Ocean County, Atlantic County, Ocean City.

**DISCLAIMER: This website does not provide any legal advice or create any attorney-client relationship. Each case is unique and requires review by a qualified attorney. Discussion of prior outcomes or results is no guarantee of the same or similar outcomes in current or future cases.