Frontera Produce Ltd., the Primus Group and The Kroger Co. have settled the vast majority of claims that arose from the 2011 Listeria outbreak from tainted cantaloupe that killed 33 and sickened about 120 people.

Attorney Bill Marler of Marler Clark in Seattle said the outbreak resulted in the filing of lawsuits on behalf of 66 people. With this latest settlement, filed in a Louisiana court the second week in February, he said all but one of the cases has been settled.

“There is still one case in Colorado that involves Sunflower Market that has not yet been settled,” Marler told The Produce News Feb. 12.

He said of the 66 cases, roughly half involved Kroger and about 20 included Walmart as a defendant. The other 15 or so cases involved various independent stores. Marler could not discuss the terms of the latest settlement but he said it resulted in the dismissal of the cases against Kroger, Frontera and Primus.

“I can’t talk about who paid and who didn’t, but I can say that these cases did establish the responsibility of all involved from field to fork,” he noted.

He said the settlement was not necessarily precedent-setting but it did underscore how important it is to maintain the safety of the product from the field to the consumer’s refrigerator.

Marler said in this Listeria cantaloupe case, there was no doubt that the contamination occurred at the grower level, but that did not absolve others along the supply chain of their responsibility.

As far as lessons learned, Marler, who specializes in food-safety cases, acknowledged that there are many challenges facing the produce industry. He said it is a little bit like the old story of the Dutch boy and the dike. The spinach contamination cases of 2006 led to the development of much stricter standards in the leafy green industry and this case has improved food-safety standards in the cantaloupe industry.

“The real challenge is to think ahead of the curve,” he said. “Where’s the next leak in the dike?”

Marler did say that technology is improving, as is government oversight with the Food Safety Modernization Act, and he is hopeful that future outbreaks are few and far between.

He also singled out Will Steele of Frontera Produce as a leader in the produce industry food-safety arena and noted that Steele worked very hard to resolve these cases equitably.

“The matter is in the process of being resolved," said Will Steele, president of Frontera Produce. "Settlement documents have been exchanged with the plaintiffs, and the parties anticipate that those documents will be signed by all the required parties. However, the settlement isn't officially concluded until that occurs. We believe a final settlement of all claims will be reached soon.
 
"While some predicted or assumed that Frontera Produce would be bankrupted by the past three years of litigation, that is not the case," he continued. "Frontera had substantial insurance money, which is being used to cover claims. We have invested in our future, we are confident moving forward, and the future is bright with this litigation soon to be officially resolved.

"Even beyond the final settlement, Frontera Produce will continue to champion produce food safety, and remain focused on strengthening the industry’s traceability efforts," Steele said.

While these cases have been resolved equitably, Marler reminded that there is no amount of money that can bring someone back from the dead nor make up for a person permanently affected by eating tainted food.