Key food poisoning cases for Marler Clark and what lessons can businesses learn - Bill Marler

15:30 Welcome 

15:35 Key food poisoning cases for Marler Clark and what lessons can businesses learn 

Bill Marler, Attorney at Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm

16:20 Comfort break

16:30 Q&A 

17:00 Finish

Highfield's 2021 food safety conference will be held virtually over 3 days in a series of live webinar broadcasts, bringing together some of the world’s leading food safety experts and organisations.

As the world continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that maintaining consumer trust in food safety is going to be an essential part of the food industry's recovery and growth in the months and years to come. 

Supported by the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) and RHE Global, this year's virtual conference is aimed at professionals working in food retail, food manufacturing, food service and catering, as well as food safety tutors and environmental health officers.

Key food poisoning cases for Marler Clark and what lessons can businesses learn

For the last 27 years, Bill has represented victims of nearly every large foodborne illness outbreak in the United States, filing lawsuits against such companies as Cargill, Chili’s, Chi-Chi’s, Chipotle, ConAgra, Dole, Excel, Golden Corral, KFC, McDonald’s, Odwalla, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Sizzler, Supervalu, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s. Through his work, he has secured over $750,000,000 for victims of E. coli, Salmonella, and other foodborne illnesses.

Among the most notable cases he has litigated, Bill counts those of nineteen-year-old dancer Stephanie Smith, who was sickened by an E. coli-contaminated hamburger that left her brain damaged and paralyzed, and Linda Rivera, a fifty-seven-year-old mother of six from Nevada, who was hospitalized for over 2 years after she was stricken with what her doctor described as “the most severe multi-organ [bowel, kidney, brain, lung, gall bladder, and pancreas] case of E. coli mediated HUS I have seen in my extensive experience.”

New York Times reporter Michael Moss won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Smith’s case, which was settled by Cargill in 2010 for an amount “to care for her throughout her life.” Linda’s story hit the front page of the Washington Post and became Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s touchstone for successfully moving forward the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2010.

During his presentation, Bill will speak about key food poisoning cases during his career, the litigation of claims resulting from outbreaks of pathogenic bacteria and viruses and the issues surrounding them. 

Bill Marler, Attorney at Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm

An accomplished attorney and national expert in food safety, William (Bill) Marler has become the most prominent foodborne illness lawyer in America and a major force in food policy in the U.S. and around the world. Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused life altering injury and even death.

Bill began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993 when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the historic Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, in her landmark $15.6 million settlement with the company.  The 2011 book ‘Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Eat’ by best-selling author Jeff Benedict, chronicles the Jack in the Box outbreak and the rise of Bill Marler as a food safety attorney.

Bill’s advocacy for a safer food supply includes petitioning the United States Department of Agriculture to better regulate pathogenic E. coli, working with non-profit food safety and foodborne illness victims’ organizations, and helping spur the passage of the 2010-2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.  His work has led to invitations to address local, national, and international gatherings on food safety, including testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. 

He gives frequent donations to industry groups for the promotion of improved food safety and has established numerous collegiate science scholarships across the nation.

In 2010 Bill was awarded the NSF Food Safety Leadership Award for Education and in 2008 earned the Outstanding Lawyer Award by the King County Bar Association. He also received the Public Justice Award from the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association in 2008. 

Bill graduated from the Seattle University School of Law in 1987, and in 1998 was the Law School’s “Lawyer in Residence.” In 2011, he was given Seattle University’s Professional Achievement Award. 

Attendees on this webinar will receive a CPD certificate worth 2 CPD points. 

Plus, every conference attendee will receive a FREE place on Highfield's Training solutions for a changing world webinar 14:30 - 16:00 on Thursday 10 June! 

To find out more about the conference go to highfieldconference.com or email us at events@highfield.co.uk