Contaminated Food? 5 Signs You Have a Good Injury Case

Personal injury comes in many forms. While most people think of accidents and assaults, it also includes more unusual injuries, such as food poisoning. If you've been affected by a bout of food poisoning linked to a food provider, you may be able to seek compensation in the form of a personal injury claim.

Food poisoning claims, though, can be tricky to prove and to receive just compensation for. What can help you decide if you should pursue your case? Here are five good indicators that it may be the right move.

1. You Can Clearly Trace the Incident

The most difficult part of most food poisoning injury cases is proving with reasonable certainty that the restaurant or food provider caused your illness. Even if you feel ill after eating from a particular restaurant, their lawyers will argue that you can't prove with complete certainty that their meal was the cause.

The more clearly you can prove a link to the food service company, the better your chances. If you brought leftovers home, for instance, you may be able to have them tested to determine which transmissible bacteria was involved. And if your attorney can quickly work to get samples from the restaurant to match to your own diagnosis, the chain will be stronger.

2. You Had Significant Medical Issues

As with most personal injury claims, you should make sure that the potential compensation is sufficient to warrant the effort of a court case. Unfortunately, this generally means that you got sick enough to end up in the hospital, suffer long-term consequences, lose wages, or end up with significant medical expenses.

Improve your chances of due compensation by keeping track of all expenses related to your food poisoning. This includes hospital and doctor bills, therapy, home health aids, lost income, travel expenses, and the cost to hire help if you're unable to do certain tasks.

3. Other People Became Sick

If you were the only one in your group to become ill after a meal or after buying food from a vendor, showing cause may be challenging. The restaurant might argue that you didn't properly refrigerate or store your leftovers, for instance. If you all ate together, it might claim, your lone illness might be the result of something unrelated.

The best case, then, comes when you can demonstrate in court that others experienced the same sickness. This may be easy if you were part of a group activity. It's more difficult if you want to talk with other patrons, though. If you engage a personal injury attorney early, they may be able to help investigate whether other patrons can provide independent corroboration.

4. It's Part of an Outbreak

Outbreaks of disease linked to certain foods provide some of the best personal injury cases. Outbreaks are usually publicized, so you can more easily prove a connection to the offending food item. And much of the work in determining the cause of the illnesses has already been done. So, all you may need to do is establish through genetic testing that your illness fits the pattern.

5. Staff Is Involved

Many restaurant and food handling cases of poisoning are linked to sick workers. This can bolster your case because it makes the chain of transmission more likely and more easily demonstrated. Certainly, if a number of food items the worker touched are all contaminated, you may have a better case under the law of strict liability. And the employer may be liable if they ignored the illness.

Does your particular case of food poisoning fit any of these criteria? Then you may have a good chance of winning the compensation you need to fully recover. Find out more about food-related personal injury claims in Texas by meeting with the legal team at the Law Offices of Janice Maloney today.