Cryptosporidium Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Cryptosporidium Blog

Bill Marler is the managing partner in the law firm Marler Clark L.L.P., P.S. Since 1993, Bill has represented thousands of victims of E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Listeria, Shigella, Campylobacter and Norovirus illnesses in over thirty states. As a trial lawyer, Bill has been involved in several cases of national importance. He represented Brianne Kiner in her $15.6 million E. coli settlement with Jack-in-the-Box. This settlement created a Washington State record for an individual personal injury action. Bill resolved several other Jack-in-the-Box E. coli cases for more than $2.5 million each.

In May of 1998, he settled the Odwalla Juice E. coli litigation for the families of children who were severely injured after consuming Odwalla apple juice for a reported $12 million. Bill represented several children in an E. coli outbreak stemming from E. coli-contaminated swimming pool water in Georgia in 1998. In 2001 he successfully tried to verdict an E. coli case involving a school lunch program in Washington State. The jury returned a verdict of $4.75 million. He also resolved dozens of E. coli cases in 2003 related to one of the largest meat recalls in United States. Bill recently settled an E. coli case for a young girl for $11 million. In addition, Bill has been lead counsel in:

Sheetz Salmonella Outbreak Litigation
Chi-Chi's Hepatitis A Outbreak Litigation
Pat & Osacar's E. coli Outbreak Litigation
Chili's Salmonella Outbreak Litigation
And in many more cases . . .
Bill speaks frequently on issues of safe food and has formed Outbreak, Inc., a non-profit business dedicated to training companies on how to avoid foodborne illness outbreaks.

Bill graduated from the Seattle University School of Law in 1987. In 1998 he became the Law School's "Lawyer in Residence." He received undergraduate degrees in Political Science, English and Economics from Washington State University in 1982. While attending WSU, Bill was elected to the Pullman City Council. At 19 years of age he was the youngest person, and first student ever elected. In 1997, Bill received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the WSU College of Liberal Arts. In 1998, Governor Gary Locke appointed Bill to the University Board of Regents. He recently served as President of the Board. He also served on the State Higher Education Coordinating Board.

He has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys. He is married to Julie Marler and they have three daughters, Morgan, Olivia and Sydney. He is a past board member of the Washington State Trial Lawyers, a member of the board of directors of Bainbridge Youth Services, and a member of the Children's Hospital Circle of Care. He is involved in numerous other civic and political causes.

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If you contracted Cryptosporidium after being exposed to contaminated food, water, an infected food worker, or animals shedding Cryptosporidium, the Marler Clark attorneys can evaluate your legal claim. Please provide us with your contact information and a brief description of your illness, and we will contact you after we have received your submission.

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By CRAIG FOX
Finger Lakes Times
cfox@fltimes.com

A lawyer representing about 250 people who became ill after visiting the Seneca Lake State Park spraypark was scheduled to appear in a court of claims in Syracuse this morning to get the state to notify everyone who is eligible to join the suit his firm has filed.

Rochester attorney Paul Nunes wants the state to notify each of the 4,000 people who contacted the Depart-ment of Health because time is running out on the 90 days they have to file a notice of claim to preserve their right to sue.

"This comes in the general heading of: It's the right thing to do," Nunes said.

Nunes, a partner with the Rochester law firm of Underberg and Kessler, is working with a Seattle-based law firm that is an expert in waterborne illness suits. They have filed a suit against the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Places.

An Albany attorney has also filed suit for another set of people who suffered the parasitic illness.

The spraypark was closed in mid-August after about 40 people complained about becoming ill shortly after being there. Reported incidents of the illness quickly spread to more than 20 counties in the state and beyond.

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The outbreak of a stomach illness at a spray park in Geneva has now moved into an upstate courtroom and it could soon become a class-action lawsuit. In a Syracuse courthouse Wednesday a Rochester lawyer says he has more than 250 clients who say they got sick from the spray park. But Paul Nunes says he knows there are thousands of other victims out there and he hopes they know their rights. "Giving notice to the department of health is not enough. You have to file a claim against the state of New York to protect your rights and time is running out."

Nunes says many of his clients did not know they had to take that step so he came to the court of claims to ask a judge to require the state to tell all 4,000 people that information.

The attorney generals office, which is defending the state, says it's a ridiculous request.

"What the claimants are looking for today is essentially an invitation from the State of New York to file a lawsuit against it," said Assistant New York Attorney General Winthrop Thurlow.

Thurlow says by now, most people who got sick from the spray park should either know their legal rights and/or have taken legal action.

He says it's an unnecessary step, one that is not within the law and one that would benefit Nunes and his law firm by bringing them more clients.

Nunes says that's not the motivation. He says just look at the paperwork. Some people got so sick; they were hospitalized and missed weeks of work. A wrong he says, that should not go unpunished because they don't understand the legal system.

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William Marler (Bill) is the managing partner in the law firm Marler Clark L.L.P., P.S. Since 1993, Bill has represented thousands of victims of E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Listeria, Shigella, Campylobacter and Norovirus illnesses in over thirty States.

Food poisoning lawsuits against companies responsible for introducing contaminated food into our food supply have become the focus of Bill's professional career as an attorney. Bill's first client who was injured after consuming contaminated food was nine-year-old Brianne Kiner, who fell with an E. coli O157:H7 infection and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome after eating a contaminated hamburger during the now-infamous Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak of 1993. Bill negotiated a $15.6 million settlement for Brianne's injuries, a record in the State of Washington for personal injury cases. He resolved several other cases from the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak for over $2.5 million each.

Bill, known as the "E. coli lawyer," has since represented thousands of people sickened or killed in outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 and other food borne pathogens, including Salmonella, Hepatitis, Shigella, Campylobacter, Norovirus, and Listeria. In 1998, he negotiated a reported $12 million settlement for the families of children who fell ill after drinking E. coli-contaminated apple juice sold by Odwalla; and in 2001, a jury awarded the families of eleven children Bill represented $4.6 million for the injuries they received during an E. coli outbreak traced to school lunch served at Finley Elementary School in Finley, Washington. He also resolved dozens of E. coli cases in 2003 related to one of the largest meat recalls in United States history. Bill recently settled an E. coli case for a young girl for $11 million. In addition, he has been lead counsel in litigation stemming from the following:

Seneca Lake State Park Cryptosporidium Outbreak

Dole Lettuce E. coli Outbreak

Sheetz Salmonella Outbreak

Paramount Farms Salmonella Outbreak

Sequoias Portola Valley E. coli Outbreak

Chi-Chi's Hepatitis A Outbreak

Gold Coast Produce E. coli Outbreak

Golden Corral Salmonella Outbreak

Habanero's E. coli Outbreak

Chili's Salmonella Outbreak

Peninsula Village E. coli Outbreak

Harmony Farms Salmonella Outbreak

Clarkston Quality Inn Salmonella Outbreak

KFC Salmonella Outbreak

Spokane Produce - E. coli Outbreak

Emmpak E. coli Outbreak

King Garden E. coli Outbreak

BJ's E. coli Outbreak

ConAgra E. coli Outbreak

Brook-Lea Salmonella Outbreak

Kunick Salmonella Outbreak

Western Sizzlin' Salmonella Outbreak

Shipley Sales Salmonella Outbreak

Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel Norwalk Outbreak

Abbott Cheese Listeria Outbreak

Robeson School District E. coli Outbreak

Black Forrest Salmonella Outbreak n

Bauer Meat E. coli Outbreak

Malt-O-Meal Salmonella Outbreak

Golden Corral E. coli Outbreak

Sun Orchard Salmonella Outbreak

Subway Hepatitis A Outbreak

San Antonio Taco Salmonella Outbreak

Karl Ehmer E. coli Outbreak

Supervalu E. coli Outbreak

Linh's Bakery Salmonella Outbreak

McDonalds Hepatitis A Outbreak

China Buffet E. coli Outbreak

Royal Fork Shigella Outbreak

Kentucky Fried Chicken E. coli Outbreak

D'Angelo's Hepatitis A Outbreak

Viva Mexico Shigella Outbreak

Sizzler E. coli Outbreak

Carl's Jr. Hepatitis A Outbreak

Wendy's E. coli Outbreak

Senor Felix Shigella Outbreak

Excel E. coli Outbreak

Bill speaks frequently on issues of safe food and formed OutBreak, Inc., (see www.outbreakinc.com), a non-profit business dedicated to training companies on how to avoid food borne diseases. He has been chosen by the attorneys of the State of Washington as a "Super Lawyer," he has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys. He is married to Julie Marler and they have three daughters, Morgan, Olivia and Sydney. Bill is a past board member of the Washington State Trial Lawyers, a member of the board of directors of Bainbridge Youth Services, and a member of the Children's Hospital Circle of Care. He is involved in numerous other civic and political causes.

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By CRAIG FOX
Finger Lakes Times
cfox@fltimes.com

GENEVA - A Rochester attorney and a nationally known Seattle law firm have filed a class action suit on behalf of families who became sick after visiting the spraypark at Seneca Lake State Park.

The Seattle law firm of Marler Clark and Rochester attorney Paul Nunes filed the case Tuesday against the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which owns and runs the state park.

The four-year-old sprayground was closed Aug. 15 after about 40 people complained of a gastrointestinal illness. In subsequent weeks, reports of the outbreak grew to nearly 4,000 people across the state and nation.

The state Health Department determined the illness was cryptosporidiosis, caused by a microscopic parasite.

The lawsuit was filed with the state Attorney General's office and it names Monroe County residents Timothy and Jacqueline Springer and their three children as the plaintiffs, but Nunes and the Seattle law firm also are representing several other families.

The Springer family became ill with the gastrointestinal illness after visiting the spraypark July 26, said Seattle attorney Bill Marler. Timothy Springer suffered such a severe case of the illness that he was hospitalized for three days, Marler said.

"Thousands of other people suffered the sane fate because the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Places failed to ensure the water at the spraypark was safe," Marler said.

Wendy Gibson, spokeswoman for the state parks office, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Two weeks ago, Nunes and the Seattle firm took the first step in filing a lawsuit by filing a notice of claim with the state attorney general's office.

The class action lawsuit will proportionately divide any damages awarded to any claimants who become involved in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is on behalf of people who were:

# Hospitalized for three days and had complications or invasive procedures;

# Admitted to an in-patient unit for hospitalization;

# Received outpatient medical care, including administration of IV fluids and;

# Received minimal medical care.

Last week, an Albany firm also filed a notice of claim involving another class action lawsuit on behalf of other families who became sick after visiting the spraypark.

On Aug. 26, the state Health Department concluded it will rewrite regulations governing water quality at all sprayparks and will implement them by November.

Marler has maintained that there is an ongoing problem with water quality in sprayparks across the country, with about 170 outbreaks at a variety of water recreational venues during between 1989 and 1999.

Many sprayparks across the country have been permanently closed after outbreaks have occurred, Marler said. So far, 33 people have been hospitalized with cryptosporidiosis from the Seneca Lake spraypark outbreak.

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By BEN DOBBIN
Associated Press Writer
September 13, 2005, 1:34 PM EDT

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The agency that oversees New York's parks and recreation sites was the target of a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of an estimated 3,800 people who developed gastrointestinal illnesses after visiting a popular water park in central New York.

A suburban Rochester couple, Tim and Jackie Springer, and their three young children became ill after spending the day at the state-run Sprayground near Geneva in late July. After caring for his children, the father ended up in the hospital with a secondary infection, the lawsuit alleged.

The Springers were named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Office of State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, but "thousands of other people suffered the same fate because the (agency) failed to ensure the water ... was safe," said attorney William Marler.

A class-action lawsuit is "the most effective way of handling this many ill people," said Marler, who specializes in litigation involving food and waterborne illnesses.

His Seattle-based firm has already been contacted by more than 100 people, he said.

The state agency, which maintains 172 parks, 35 historic sites and thousands of campgrounds, beaches, golf courses, trails and other recreation areas, doesn't comment on pending litigation, said spokeswoman Wendy Gibson.

Of some 3,800 people who reported becoming ill this summer after visiting the Sprayground, which has water jets shooting up from a hardtop surface, at least 33 were hospitalized.

The state Health Department shut down the Seneca Lake Park attraction in mid-August after tests found a common waterborne disease known as cryptosporidium in two storage tanks. The highly contagious disease can cause diarrhea, nausea and fever that can last for weeks. It usually goes away without treatment in healthy individuals.

Sprayground was first closed temporarily on Aug. 16 after officials received more than 100 reports of illnesses dating to early July. Once the outbreak was made public, the number of cases rapidly escalated.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Suzanne Schreck
1-800-884-9840 Ext. 1879
sschreck@marlerclark.com

ROCHESTER, NY (September 13, 2005) - Marler Clark and Underberg & Kessler filed a class action complaint today against the New York Office of State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The lawsuit, which was filed in the State of New York Court of Claims, was filed on behalf of nearly 4,000 people who became ill with Cryptosporidiosis after visiting the Spraypark at Seneca Lake State Park in July and August. The named plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Timothy and Jacqueline Springer, a Monroe County couple, and their three children, who became ill with Cryptosporidium infections after visiting the Spraypark in late July.

"We filed this lawsuit as a class action lawsuit as the most effective way of handling this many ill people, especially children," said William Marler, managing partner of Seattle-based Marler Clark. "The Springer children suffered Cryptosporidiosis after playing at the Spraypark, and Mr. Springer had to be hospitalized after suffering a secondary infection after caring for his children. Thousands of other people suffered the same fate because the Office of State Parks failed to ensure the water at the Spraypark was safe."

Paul Nunes, a partner with Rochester firm Underberg & Kessler, added, "Claims against the Office of State Parks must be brought within ninety days of the injury, or cannot be brought at all. Besides filing a class action, we urge all people sickened to file timely Notices of Claim with the State in order to preserve your rights."

Four sub-classes have been proposed within the class action claim filed today so that any damages awarded will be divided proportionally to the injuries sustained by class members. The sub-classes include:

- Persons hospitalized for more than three days and who had complications or an invasive procedure,
- Persons who were admitted to an inpatient unit for hospitalization,
- Persons who received outpatient medical care, including the administration of IV fluids, and
- Persons who required minimal medical care

"We have taken into account the fact that people's injuries vary greatly, and have tried to come up with a way to compensate all class members as fairly as possible," Marler concluded.

###

Marler Clark and Underberg & Kessler have been contacted by over 100 ill persons. For more information contact Suzanne Schreck at 206-346-1879 or sschreck@marlerclark.com.

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Friday, September 02, 2005
By CRAIG FOX
Finger Lakes Times
cfox@fltimes.com

GENEVA - A Rochester attorney and a nationally known Seattle law firm yesterday filed a notice of claim for a class action suit they may bring on behalf of some families who became sick after visiting the spraypark at Seneca Lake State Park.

The law firm of Marler Clark and Rochester attorney Paul Nunes filed the paperwork in the case that could be brought against the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which owns and runs the state park.

The 4-year-old sprayground was closed Aug. 15 after about 40 people complained of a gastrointestinal illness. In subsequent weeks, reports of the outbreak grew to more than 3,869 people in 35 counties -- with 612 cases confirmed.

The state Health Department determined the illness was cryptosporidiosis, caused by a microscopic parasite.

Filed with the state Attorney General's office, the notice of claim names Rochester resident Tricia Van Putte and her two young children as plaintiffs, but Nunes and the Seattle law firm are also representing several other families.

"This is just the first step," Nunes said Thursday, adding they had only 90 days to file this paperwork before the statutes of limitations would have run out.

Nunes said that days after their Aug. 11 visit to the spraypark, Van Putte and her two young children, Grace and Tyler, came down with diarrhea, abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever, headache and loss of appetite.

The attorneys will now start gathering information, conducting research and reviewing evidence before deciding whether to proceed with the lawsuit, they said.

Wendy Gibson, a spokeswoman with state parks office, said she could not comment on potential litigation.

Earlier in the week, Gibson said that the state still has not found what caused the cryptosporidium parasite to contaminate two water-holding tanks connected to the sprayground's filtration system.

Before the notice of claim was filed Thursday, Albany attorney Don Boyajian, a partner with Dreyer Boyajian, LLP, in Albany, was already soliciting clients, saying his firm could file a class action lawsuit to sue for the pain and suffering and lost wages. Boyajian has been running ads in the Finger Lakes Times as recent as Wednesday, looking for clients.

The Seattle firm has been involved in some of the country's most high-profile lawsuits involving food-and waterborne contamination, E. coli, hepatitis and salmonella. Its biggest case involved children who were contaminated with E. coli at several Jack In The Box restaurants on the West Coast in 1993. The family of a 12-year-old girl who was hospitalized for several months was awarded $15.6 million.

The firm has also represented several people contaminated with E. coli at a petting zoo in Florida three years ago.

In 2002, Seattle attorney Bill Marler and Nunes also worked together on a case in which more than 75 people got salmonella during a function at the Brook-Lea Country Club in Rochester.

Contacted in his Seattle office, Marler said there must have been "a design or functional flaw" in the spraypark system because the outbreak lasted several weeks and so many people got sick.

"It's not a logical explanation" that feces from a child whose diaper was changed near the water park could have been the source of the contamination, he said.

On Aug. 26, the Health Department concluded it will rewrite regulations governing water quality at all sprayparks and will implement them by November.

But Marler contended there's an ongoing problem with water quality in spray parks across the country, with about 170 outbreaks at a variety of water recreational venues during between 1989 and 1999.

Many sprayparks across the country have been permanently closed after outbreaks have occurred, Marler said. So far, 33 people have been hospitalized with cryptosporidiosis from the Seneca Lake spraypark outbreak, he said.

An unidentified family of four sisters, their eight children and their parents all became ill last month, and the husband of one of the women was hospitalized for three days with dehydration, Nunes said.

"It can affect people in different ways," said Nunes, an attorney with the firm of Underberg & Kessler.

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Notice filed against state over Sprayground outbreak

Lauren Stanforth
Staff writer

(September 2, 2005) - Two lawyers filed a notice Thursday with the state Attorney General's Office that they intend to pursue a class action lawsuit against the state for the massive parasitic outbreak that struck Seneca Lake State Park's Sprayground this summer.

Tricia Van Putte of Greece is the only individual named in the notice of claim. She appears in the notice on behalf of herself and her two small children who attended the Sprayground on Aug. 11 and contracted cryptosporidiosis, a gastrointestinal illness caused by the parasite cryptosporidium.

But the notice also alerts the state of the attorneys' intentions to file a lawsuit involving more clients. Rochester lawyer Paul Nunes, one of the lawyers who filed the notice, said he has been contacted by about three dozen people interested in getting retribution for illness associated with the park.

"One family talked about not being able to enjoy their back yard pool during this beautiful weather," Nunes said. But also, "we've got a husband of a family in the hospital this evening," with symptoms from cryptosporidiosis.

In one of the nation's largest waterborne parasitic outbreaks, the parasite somehow infiltrated the Sprayground's water supply, which is recycled daily.

More than 3,800 people from 35 New York counties have reported becoming ill after having contact with the Sprayground between June and mid-August. At least 33 people have been hospitalized.

The state closed the Sprayground near Geneva, Ontario County, in mid-August after finding cryptosporidium in the park's water tanks.

The state Health Department is still investigating the incident.

The state Attorney General's Office, which defends lawsuits against the state, said this was the first notice of claim filed in the incident. Marc Violette, a spokesman for the office, had no further comment. Wendy Gibson, spokeswoman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which is named in the notice, also would not comment.

Nunes filed the notice of claim with William Marler, a Seattle lawyer known for litigation involving food and waterborne illness.

LSTANFOR@DemocratandChronicle.com

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Lauren Stanforth
Staff writer

(September 1, 2005) - Rochester and Seattle attorneys together filed a notice today with the state attorney general's office that they intend to pursue a class action lawsuit against the state for the massive parasitic outbreak that struck Seneca Lake State Park's Sprayground last month.

Tricia Van Putte of Greece is the only individual named in the lawsuit. She appears in the lawsuit on behalf of her two small children who attended the Sprayground on Aug. 11 and contracted cryptosporidiosis, the gastrointestinal illness that is caused by the parasite.

The state found the parasite in the Sprayground's two water tanks in mid-August. The state has said its investigation into how the parasite got there is continuing. More than 3,200 people have reported becoming ill after attending the spray park between June and mid-August.

The notice said a class action lawsuit involving other clients could be started through Van Putte's claim. A notice of claim is not a lawsuit; it is a document that allows attorneys more time to file a lawsuit.

The Seattle attorney specializes in public health outbreak cases.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ROCHESTER, NY (September 1, 2005) - Marler Clark and Underberg & Kessler filed a notice of claim today against the New York Office of State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The notice indicates the intent to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of over 3,200 people who became ill with Cryptosporidiosis after visiting the Sprayground at Seneca Lake State Park in July and August. The notice was filed on behalf of Tricia Van Putte and her two young children, who will be the named plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, and who became ill with Cryptosporidium infections after visiting the Sprayground. Marler Clark and Underberg and Kessler have been retained by several other families.

The New York State Health Department shut down the Sprayground on August 15 after it was determined that the Sprayground's water holding tanks, which were used to recycle water, were contaminated with Cryptosporidium. On August 26, the Health Department issued an update on its investigation into the outbreak, announcing that 3,297 cases of Cryptosporidium had been reported in 33 New York counties. Of those cases, 415 were confirmed cases reported to the State Health Department. Thirty-three people had been hospitalized with Cryptosporidiosis.

In 1997, 369 people, mostly children, became ill with Cryptosporidiosis after playing in a water fountain at a Minnesota zoo. In 1999, at least 38 people became ill with Cryptosporidium or Shigella infections after playing in a spray fountain at a beachside park in Florida.

"Whether they are publicly or privately operated, all water parks should have sanitation measures in place to prevent outbreaks. The majority of people who play in sprayparks and pools are children -- the most vulnerable population to parasites and pathogenic bacteria," said William Marler, managing partner of Seattle-based Marler Clark, who represented twelve of 26 children who became ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections after visiting an Atlanta, Georgia, waterpark in 1998.

Ms. Van Putte and their two children became ill with Cryptosporidiosis days after visiting the Sprayground. Symptoms included diarrhea, abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever, headache, and loss of appetite. The children's illnesses were confirmed as Cryptosporidiosis by the State Health Department.

On August 26, the Democrat & Chronicle reported that the state Health Department will rewrite regulations governing water quality at all sprayparks and will implement them on an emergency basis by November. Paul Nunes, a partner in the Rochester firm Underberg & Kessler, added, "You would think that after the Washington County Fair E. coli outbreak in 1998 there would be higher standards for all water supplies in the State of New York. It's a shame that there had to be another outbreak to make water safety a priority."

Together, Marler Clark and Underberg & Kessler represented 75 victims, several of them children, of the Brook-Lea County Club Salmonella outbreak of 2002. The two firms also represented two Orangeburg, NY girls who became ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections after eating contaminated ground beef from BJ's Wholesale Club in 2002. For more information on Cryptosporidium, see www.CryptosporidiumBlog.com.

Contact Suzanne Schreck
1-800-884-9840 Ext. 1879
sschreck@marlerclark.com

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