Several Lawsuits Against Chipotle Are Being Dismissed in Federal Courts
Chipotle has been under fire recently for its claim that its food is safer than other similar fast food chains. In June, the company was slammed by two lawsuits, one from a Washington state man who claimed he died from consuming chicken that came from a Chipotle restaurant. Another class-action suit was filed in December by a California woman, claiming that she developed serious neurological problems after eating at one of the Chipotle restaurants. Now, another couple has filed lawsuits against Chipotle; this time, a California man is suing because his wife ate a burrito from their location that contained listeria.
These lawsuits come at a time when many consumers are concerned about the impact of the recalls and associated press stories on their families and lives.
In the aftermath of these scandals, many companies have lost jobs and consumers’ confidence in them. Several lawsuits against businesses like Chipotle have put the spotlight on the employers, and their failure to ensure that food is safe. As many people know, E.coli is a bacteria commonly found in raw chicken products, and many food safety advocates believe it should be banned from foods altogether. But because the E.coli lawsuits have not yet reached the courts, many employers continue to use the contaminated food as a practice for maintaining food safety.
The first of the two new lawsuits filed against Chipotle was filed by a Washington state man who claimed that he suffered from serious intestinal pains after eating at one of the company’s locations.
According to court documents, this man became ill after eating only a few tortillas. This is the same kind of problem that was recently addressed by the Minnesota attorney general, who discovered that there were unapproved hormones in food stored at two Chipotle Mexican restaurants. After a review, those hormones were taken off the shelves, but other stores continue to stock them. These tainted products led to the outbreak of illnesses.
A second lawsuit was filed against Chipotle from a Maryland woman.
This woman says she suffered from severe headaches, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea after consuming a burrito at one of its locations. Both of these women are plaintiffs in the latest food safety lawsuit, which says that these outbreaks are caused by negligence and improper hygiene. This is not the first time these lawsuits have been filed against Chipotle. Last year, there were reports of numerous outbreaks of listeria and E.coli. People began to lose confidence in the burrito chain due to these illnesses.
Another set of lawsuits was brought against the company by an individual who says that he suffered from serious dental problems after eating at one of its locations.
This man is also one of the people who filed the original complaint with the U.S. attorney general, claiming that the fast food giant was negligent when it did not properly maintain sanitary conditions. Both of these groups are accusing Chipotle of avoiding paying overtime wages to employees and making them work longer hours than necessary to ensure they would not get sick.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has ordered the company to pay damages to a former employee who suffered from mental illness after eating at one of their restaurants.
The court has also ruled that the company did not have a proper procedure in place to ensure that food is handled properly. It has also dismissed two additional lawsuits that had been filed against Chipotle. These lawsuits accuse the company of failing to properly train its employees, forcing employees to work faster than usual without telling them about health hazards, and requiring employees to purchase a large amount of food from the fast food establishment. The federal courts have ordered Chipotle to pay more than $6 million in damages to a former employee who suffered from mental illness following a Chipotle trip.
