Patron brought action against restaurant for breach of warranty, based on food poisoning.
On April 7, 2005, Alexis Sarti and a friend ate at the Salt Creek Grille. They split an appetizer consisting of raw ahi tuna, avocado, cucumbers and soy sauce. Sarti became nauseous and chilled the next day. The day after that she suffered constant diarrhea, fever and chills. The diarrhea continued for the next ten days. By April 19, Sarti was unable to move her legs and having a hard time focusing her eyes. Her mother called the paramedics, who took her to the emergency room. Her admitting physician took a “food history.” She was put into intensive care, where a neurologist diagnosed a variant of quillan-barre syndrome (a disease that damages peripheral nerves). She was tested, and found to have campylobacter bacteria, which was the only pathogen found in the sample. Expert testimony would later indicate that Sarti’s guillain-barre was an idiosyncratic immuno-suppressant reaction to the constant diarrhea brought on from campylobacter.
The jury returned a verdict of $725,000 in economic damages and $2.5 million in non-economic damages (obviously pain and suffering). The trial judge perceived that the jury’s verdict was based on the inference that the practice of using the same wipe down rag (or storing raw meat over raw vegetables, or touching cooked food with chicken tongs that had previously touched raw chicken) had led to cross-contamination from raw chicken to raw tuna.
The trial court dismissed the judgment and Plaintiff appealed. The Court of Appeal opined there was substantial evidence to support the juries finding and reinstated the verdict.
