Put me out of business, Please
By William Marler
Restaurant industry should require hepatitis A vaccinations for all foodservice workers
I applaud Utah County health officials for considering mandatory vaccination of foodservice workers. Every year, thousands of restaurant customers have to receive Immune globulin injections to prevent hepatitis A infection after eating at a restaurant where an infected food handler came in contact with food. They are forced to take time off work or out of school to stand in line at clinics held by public health officials and receive their injections. Those who were exposed, but were not notified within a two-week time period and were unable to receive a preventative shot, wait in anticipation while the fifty-day incubation period passes to find out whether they will become ill or not. And many do become ill.
According to the CDC, hepatitis A infected food handlers do cause outbreaks. Although the Chi Chi’s hepatitis A outbreak in Pennsylvania that sickened 650 and killed 5 last year appears to have been caused by contaminated onions, it could have just as easily been a hepatitis A positive employee in another case. This outbreak alone cost Chi Chi’s its business and will cost insurance companies millions.
I know this because I am a trial lawyer who has built a practice on food pathogens. Over the last ten years, I have represented thousands of families who were devastated after doing a very American pastime — eating at a restaurant.

Put me out of business, please.
For this trial lawyer, hepatitis A has been a far too successful practice – and a heart-breaking one. I am tired of visiting with horribly sick people who did not have to be sick in the first place. I am outraged with a restaurant industry that I have called on numerous times to voluntarily vaccinate employees against hepatitis A to protect public health. The industry argument is the same: there is a high turnover rate among foodservice workers, and shots are costly. It is time to stop making excuses and simply do the right thing — vaccinate your employees and protect your customers.
I understand restaurant owners’ concerns, but when you get down to it, the cost of vaccinating restaurant employees against hepatitis A beats the cost of lost business and having to reimburse a health department for the cost of inoculating thousands of customers after a food worker has been diagnosed with hepatitis A. And, even better, prevent making your customers ill and you’ll put me out of business.
William Marler is a Seattle trial lawyer specializing in food borne illness litigation and the father of three girls. He may be reached at 206-346-1888 during the day and at 206-794-5043 in the evening. He may also be reached by mail at 701 5th Avenue, Suite 6600, Seattle, WA 98104, by fax at 206-346-1898, or by email at bmarler@marlerclark.com.
About William Marler: William Marler is the managing partner at Marler Clark (www.marlerclark.com). Marler Clark is the premiere food illness litigation firm in the Untied States. It has achieved great success representing victims, mostly children, in the largest foodborne illness outbreaks across the country over the last ten years. Mr. Marler represented Brianne Kiner in her $15.6 million E. coli settlement with Jack in the Box in 1993. In 1998, Marler Clark resolved several cases for children who suffered kidney failure in the Odwalla apple juice E. coli outbreak. The firm represented most of the seriously injured victims in the Finely School E. coli outbreak of 1998, the Sun Orchard Salmonella outbreak of 1999, the E. coli Sizzler outbreak on 2000, the Wendy’s E. coli outbreak of 2001, the Con Agra E. coli outbreak of 2002, and the Chili’s Salmonella outbreak of 2003. Marler Clark is presently involved in Chi Chi’s hepatitis A litigation, and has filed class-action lawsuits against Friendly’s and Quizno’s, two Boston-area restaurants that were implicated in potential hepatitis A outbreaks.
See Marler Clark’s Web sites about Hepatitis A, and current Hepatitis A Litigation.