BILLINGS — A Billings woman has filed a civil lawsuit in Yellowstone County District Court against McDonald's and its franchisee Pasha Enterprises, alleging that she contracted E. coli after eating a Quarter Pounder hamburger at a Billings restaurant.
Candina Rose Craft claims in the suit, filed Nov. 4, that she suffered a loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain, cramping, chest and back pain and severe bloody diarrhea four days after eating the hamburger from the McDonald's restaurant at 4902 Southgate Dr. in Billings on Sept. 29.
By Oct. 6, she sought medical treatment, and testing from a stool sample was positive for E. coli, according to the lawsuit.
Craft remains in recovery and has not regained her full appetite and feels weak and sensitive to certain foods, according to the lawsuit.
Craft is represented by Bill Marler, a Washington state attorney who has filed lawsuits nationwide over E. coli and other food contamination, and attorney Michael Bliven of Kalispell.
“The injuries that we see in these situations can be quite severe,” said Drew Falkenstein, an attorney with Marler's firm, Marler Clark. “They can be catastrophic and life-changing.”
Falkenstein and Marler Clark are representing other Montana victims including a father and his 11-month-old daughter who shared a hamburger at McDonald's in Belgrade.
The infant was hospitalized for more than a week.
“We represent a couple of families, up in Northwest Montana out in the Kalispell area, who had a person in their family die as a result of their illnesses in the McDonald’s outbreak,” Falkenstein said. “The cases filed in Gallatin and Yellowstone counties don't involve, fortunately, don't involve that outcome.”
According to Marler, 90 people in 13 states have been infected with E. coli after eating at McDonald's since the outbreak began in October.
That number is expected to increase.
“I’m sure that, that we will be contacted by people over the next few months,” Falkenstein said.
One person in Colorado died.
In Montana, 17 people have been sickened, while another five have reportedly contracted E. coli in Wyoming, according to Marler.
Eight cases were reported in Yellowstone County.
McDonald's has traced the contamination back to the onions served on the Quarter Pounders, which were provided by Taylor Farms of California.
The company has issued a recall of all potentially contaminated onions.
Craft is seeking attorney's fees, compensatory damage and other fees as determined in a jury trial.
Falkenstein’s firm specializes in food safety cases and is now representing more than a dozen victims across the country with that number expected to rise.
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