Can You Sue a Restaurant for Food Poisoning?
You had dinner last night at a restaurant, and now you’re running back and forth to the bathroom all morning. Cramps, nausea, diarrhea, etc. – it’s all there. The cause seems obvious; you got food poisoning from whatever you had last night. You go online to see the restaurant’s reviews, and there are a couple of people complaining about the same thing you’re experiencing.
Why not sue them right away? It seems perfectly reasonable. Correct?
The problem is that food poisoning is very messy (both figuratively and literally). Some germs can make you sick within a few hours, and others take days or weeks. So, you could have gotten food poisoning from something you ate a week ago. And online complaints aren’t really evidence of anything.
If you can prove that the food the restaurant served you made you sick, then they can be held responsible. But even with that, the case needs more than bad timing and a weekend spent on the toilet.
Does Getting Sick Mean the Restaurant Is Responsible?
Maybe. Maybe not. If you start to feel sick a few hours after eating somewhere, it makes sense to blame the restaurant, especially if the food tasted funky or if someone else at your table also got sick. But that said, the period of incubation (the time from when you ate the food to the time you got sick) varies depending on what caused your illness.
Some toxins can make you sick within a few hours, so it’s possible that the last meal you ate is what caused problems. But other infections take days to cause symptoms, and some parasites can take a week or even longer.
If that’s the case, then last night’s dinner had nothing to do with you being sick.
And that’s why cases of food poisoning can be so stressful.
You know, other than cramps and diarrhea. You probably remember the meal you ordered last night, but do you remember everything you ate in the last 3 or 4 days? Groceries, takeout, food you cooked at home, whatever you ate at work, and so on.
Investigators need all that information, and they also have to rule out a stomach virus that had nothing to do with any food you ate at all.
What Would You Have to Prove?
Well, there are a number of things that need to be proven. Let’s look at three clear examples:
You Were Diagnosed With a Foodborne Illness
Everyone says they have food poisoning when they get sudden problems with their stomach, but in the legal sense, that description will get you nowhere.
Many things can cause vomiting and diarrhea, so you’ll need doctor’s notes and test results.
In an ideal case, testing will show exactly what bacteria, parasite, or virus you’re dealing with. But that doesn’t always happen, especially if you don’t go to the doctor right away or if the doctor doesn’t order the correct test. Some pathogens need targeted testing, so a routine stool examination can miss a lot.
You’ve probably already heard about the Taylor Farms cyclospora lawsuit, right? Well, Cyclospora needs that targeted testing, or you won’t find it.
However, even if you don’t get a positive test, the fact that your doctor can confirm you’re sick is still something.
The Illness Came From That Specific Meal
A positive test will tell you what made you sick. Unfortunately, it won’t tell you whether it was from the food you ate last night at a restaurant or from the lettuce you bought at the market a week ago and ate 3 days ago.
If your meal is part of some sort of pattern, that’s better.
For example, if your friend ate the same lettuce you bought and got sick at the same time, that’s a clue. If you suspect something at a restaurant made you sick, investigators would need to check their invoices and supplier records to see where the ingredient came from.
Someone in the Supply Chain Was at Fault
Let’s say you found the problematic ingredient.
Who let it get to your plate? Did the restaurant prepare it on a surface that was already contaminated? Or did the contamination start at the farm or during transport?
It’s completely possible that the restaurant did everything right and still served you contaminated food because it arrived already contaminated. As far as who’s responsible, that depends on state law and partly on what the records show.
In some cases, several different businesses could be responsible.
Conclusion
In short – if you can prove that the food the restaurant served you made you sick and that being sick caused medical expenses, lost income, or another kind of loss that’s measurable, then you can sue them. If not, well… Then there’s no point.
It’s all about what you can prove.
Just because you got sick after a meal doesn’t mean you can sue anyone. It’s suspicious, sure, but not nearly enough for a lawsuit.
